Living Dead of the Night
by Luafua
Summary: For a majority of his life, supernatural hunter Hyuga Neji lived alone in the world to find his lost cousin who was stolen from his family. However one day he is assigned to train a weapon mistress. Despite she acted nothing like him, Neji soon realises that she would be the only one to understand him. AU NejiTen/ NaruHina/ ShikaIno
1. Chapter 1

_**A/n: Hey, I guess it's been a while since I actually wrote something? I was brainstorming for ideas in this story while I was watching Zombieland for the… millionth time and I realised I wanted a zombie themed story. Slowly I morphed the idea from Zombies to hunters because I was watching first season of Vampire Diaries with Alaric (Bless his lovely soul). The idea of supernatural monsters came in mind after watching Game of Thrones with the Walkers and Supernatural the show… so yeah! Here's the story! Please enjoy reading**_

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Prologue**

_Sixteen years ago, my family and I were attacked by a group of monstrous beings_**; **_my cousin was taken against her will while I heard the cries of agony from the rest of my family. One of the monsters were going to kill me when a stranger appeared, with a flash of red and silver, making dark green blood of the monster fling into the air, and howling the pain through its jaws. Once it had died, the stranger had taken a brief glance towards us before he vanished into thin air. It felt like it was an aftermath of a nightmare, but as I gazed upon the torn bodies of my father and my uncle in front of me. The distraught grew heavy on my shoulders, and I had felt like collapsing to the ground to declare that I would get my revenge… though I knew for sure that it was impossible. _

_That was when they appeared, and saved me. Their large cloaks were the same colour as pure ebony with crimson clouds, explaining to me that they were the Akatsuki and they were meant to hunt monsters like them, or in other words… demons and supernatural beings. According to their research, the demons were after my blood, because I was part demon. The Akatsuki offered me redemption, and a chance to save my lost cousin, whether she was dead or alive._

_Now, I live as a human-demon hybrid, hunting the supernatural monsters to find my cousin – to only hope that she was still alive after all these years. My name is Hyuga Neji, and I am ready._

**_-v-_**

Moonlight settled on the bed that I had slept on during the day, the white sheets scrunch together in tight balls. I had to keep quiet to myself, as a hunter of the underworld, I have to learn how one travels – besides, the lack of company gave me no one to talk to, so I found myself staring at the pitch blackness, watching the freedom of the nocturnal birds. My coffee black hair hung loosely by its ponytail which gushed down my spine and to my waist. The black bandana around my forehead began to itch my brow, making me inwardly scowl and glare out towards the night. A sudden alarm jolted my senses, piercing the dead cold silence of the night. With the annoyed growl rumbling my throat, I raised the phone and unhappily answered it.

"What Hidan?" I snarled silently, not holding back on my irritated attitude. To be truthful, I hated Hidan, with a passion. He was full of nothing but curses and snide remarks, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand. One night, he had let a human bleed to death, claiming the blood spill would be sacrificed to some mythical god.

"_Now, now pretty boy – what the fuck has crawled up your ass and died in there?"_ The man on the other line retorted harshly. I hated the fact that Hidan was the man who gave me the next target to kill, I would've preferred Itachi or Pein to be the one sending out my kills, but I had to have the religious curser. _"Whatever, some fucking fanger is out in the streets – I trust you to gut it open for Jashin-sama!"_ Hidan hung up before I even had the chance to ask where the vampire was. The damn bastard didn't ever tell me where the monsters were, I had to chase them down myself.

Selfish prick.

I went into the cupboard and opened up a hollow part of the wall, revealing all sorts of weapons for monster hunting. As a child growing up a part of hunting the monsters, I had to learn how to fight with and without weapons, so that I could fight anytime. I pulled out my favourite weapon for hunting vampires; the crossbow but instead of it shooting out arrows, it shot out wooden stakes with silver tips at the end.

As I finished preparing myself, I locked all of the doors and took a final glance at the photo of my family. I stood in front of my father and uncle, next to my smiling cousin – even back then my ivory eyes had an excited gleam to them. My heart hardened, and I forced myself out of the window to chase after the vampire.

"I promise Hinata-sama, the demons will regret this." I cursed, jumping into the night.

_**A/n: Before I sign out – I just want to say if you don't like my story – tough luck sweetie, we can't always get what we want. I like this story's plot and won't let low lives like flamers destroy something I enjoy.**_

_**But for anyone else that likes this story, feel free to review because reviews are like my ego boosters- I mean... Have a good day/night/morning/afternoon.**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. I am honestly touched :D I was going to wait until next week to post this chapter but I can't be too mean! Here's the first chapter. Oh yeah - I've officially decided that this would be in third person cause I'm used to writing in third person. CHA!**_

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 1: Hyuga Hunter**

Bounding silently on the rooftops, Neji held the crossbow tightly in his grasp. It was the year 2020, and humans were well aware of the existence of the underworld monsters, ever since five years ago the human population has decreased vividly. Barely any human could survive with the sudden change of circumstance, but they managed. His skills surpassed many, and every human being dubbed him as the Hyuga Prodigy. Even if Neji's darker side didn't like it, he was glad that humans were still around.

Neji had woken his darker side a few times, gradually as the years pass by he witnessed everything that his demon would do and the Hyuga was terrified of the demon. First, his body will numb and move without any will and then, Neji's thoughts directly change to bloodlust – imaging the blood painted all over the floor. It knew that too well that Neji loathed this dark side.

The hunter halted when he heard a scream escape out into the streets. He had found in what he was looking for. Ignoring the itch of his brow, Neji darted towards the direction of the scream, depending on his memory for the scream. With a quick glance from his ivory orbs into a dark, Neji held out his crossbow to the darkness and blasted the stake towards it. Neji had the slightest suspicion that he had missed, judging the quiet reaction when a blur charged towards him with a sadistic snarl.

After years of training, Neji had learnt to see the swift movements from any high speed attacker with his hawk-like eyes. He observed that the vampire had been staked just above the heart, where it needed to go. Like all vampires, this vampire had a pale body of a human, except for unusual bright eyes, a set of fangs and claws that extended on each finger. Ripping the stake out of its chest furiously, the vampire set its bright eyes on the hunt.

The vampire screeched and lunged its claws towards Neji, forcing the ivory-eyed man to jump back, feeling the slight breeze of the claws stroking his skin. He felt relief flood into his gut, knowing that if he was to get scratched or bitten by the creature, he would either die or get turned into one of them. It was never revealed. Neji pulled out a spare stake from his jacket, throwing the crossbow to the ground and planting the stake through its heart, jumping back again to ensure that the vampire wouldn't strike back in the last second.

"Your blood is owned by Orochimaru-sama!" It hissed, fangs fully exposed in the faint moonlight.

"Have fun in hell, leech." The Hyuga cursed, watching the death with amusement as the vampire screamed out in agony, just as it crumbled into dust and the dust floated with the wind. Picking the dust like scraps, it fluttered high into the night and left Neji silently envying the dust for being able to float so easily, to soar the skies like nothing. His ears picked up weak wheezes from a human, sounded female – and he approached the dark alley, raising an eyebrow at the scared figure in front of him.

She cowered in the ground, eyes still wide with fright. "Don't come near me!" The girl stammered, her eyes still observing Neji with terror.

"Would you like me to walk you home?" Neji offered, his patience slowly cracking with the attitude that humans possessed as he offered his hand out to the trembling woman. He couldn't smell any blood, so she wouldn't be turning while he had his back turned. It was always a relief when the humans survived.

"No! I don't need anyone to walk me home." She protested angrily, still remained cowering in the corner. Neji's ivory orbs glared at the girl, as if he wasn't giving her much of a choice until she stood up quietly, eyes flickering around her nervously. "Fine – but I don't trust you."

"You don't need to." Neji replied coldly, walking out of the alley with a sigh. "Hurry up or I'll leave you in there." Nevertheless, the woman caught up to Neji, jumping whenever she heard something move or when the wind would rustle the leaves. As she returned to her apartment with a sign of gratitude, Neji used his quick speed to return to his own and lay down on the bed.

He thought that he wouldn't be able to sleep that night, because of his habits of sleeping during the day but when he suddenly saw a familiar child screaming out in pain, he found himself sitting up on the bed with sweat dripping down his face. The phone cried out as the distraction, and Neji groaned once again when he saw the caller.

"Yes, I killed the vampire." Neji answered with Hidan questioning.

Hidan's surprised tone confirmed to Neji that he had guessed right. _"The fuck? I thought you were gonna cut it out and make it cry in agony."_

"I never said that, you just assumed I did." The Hyuga responded, rubbing his bandana with exhaustion.

_"Shut the fuck up pretty boy."_ Hidan snapped in annoyance, _"Any human killings for Jashin-sama?" _

Neji had to resist in rolling his eyes at Hidan. Once again, he's talking about some god that blesses him with immortality just because he 'sacrifices' humans. "No, there was a woman and I escorted her home before any harm."

_"Fuck, there hasn't been many human kills recently – Jashin-sama won't like this at all." _And with that, the religious retard had hung up the phone and Neji had already placed the device next to the photograph.

"Hinata-sama…" The Hyuga boy muttered, shivering away the side effects of the nightmare. Neji had looked around his room, noticing that he had forgotten his beloved crossbow back with the vampire fight. It didn't matter; Neji could always buy another one. With the payment he gets from his hunting job, it was no big deal.

Neji pulled his shirt off***** and left it on the floor as he picked out a casual shirt so he could go into the city and listen in for any rumours. Last thing he had heard, demons often kidnapped part demons for a specific reason, and Neji assumed that the demons were going to abduct him as well but the silver haired stranger had saved his fate. The Akatsuki weren't so skimpy with their intentions either – they had merely mentioned that their idea was to kill any underworld creatures that threatened their city. His side of the deal was that he could join them as a hunter and they would find any information regarding Hinata's disappearance.

He found himself fixing the bandana tightly around his forehead, preventing any skin for it to be exposed by the outside world. Neji had felt insecure by hiding his curse, the shame that forever preventing him from being a flying hawk or owl. Out of all of the things he wanted to be in the world, Neji would be a bird – and he would long for the freedom that they had. The Hyuga discharged the hopeful thoughts, cleaning up his small apartment and collecting his gear before leaving the building. This was the day that he would meet up, with the one and only human that he would ever get to know.

-:-

Nara Shikamaru inhaled the cigarette between his lips as he patiently waited, his eyelids dropping every few seconds as they threatened to close completely. He lifted the ciggy from his mouth and let out a puff of smoke escape his lips. His wife and mother often nagged about his smoking habits, but it never really got to him. No matter how troublesome they were.

Leaning back on the chair, Shikamaru observed his surroundings of the café. Only a few couples were talking, most of them glanced at him quickly before gazing back towards each other. Either they disapproved of his smoking, or that they had noticed his pineapple shaped head and recognised him as the lazy genius.

"You're black coffee… sir." The waitress placed the mug on his desk with a faint smile.

"Thanks. I'll let you know when I want the cheque. " Shikamaru replied sluggishly, pulling out his cigarette and smashing it into the ash tray. She nodded briefly, and left to serve another customer. He brought the coffee to his lips and swallowed calmly. It tasted different compared to his mother's, in fact he preferred hers over anyone's any day, even his wife agrees.

The sound of the bell made Shikamaru raise a lazy eyebrow at the entering Hyuga, who silently walked into the café and took a seat by Shikamaru's table.

"This better be a good reason why you brought me here Neji. Wife's been nagging me to stop dealing with this business." Though it seemed a good idea, Shikamaru couldn't just give up on his godfather – who was killed a few years back by the underworld monsters. Not until he has revenge on the man with the red scythe – who had the guts to take down one of the well-known hunters.

"What do you know about Asuma's hideout?" Neji questioned, furrowing his brow together in a scowl.

"Thought you would question about it eventually…" Shikamaru sighed lazily, leaning back into the chair as he glanced at the Hyuga in front of him. "I take it that you found something on your cousin."

Neji gritted his jaw in frustration. "I haven't found anything, _yet._ But last night… A blood-sucker said that my blood was owned by someone named Orochimaru." His eyes took a brief glance around him, noticing that the people had completely shrunk into their chairs at the mention. "I've only heard that name once, and that was from Asuma when he was training me and you're the only one who knows where that hideout is."

The man with the pineapple hair narrowed his eyes at Neji. He too, had heard of the name – most of his hearings were from rumours though, so he couldn't exactly know who was speaking the truth. "Rumours go around for ages; most say he's some demon… not just any demon but a pure demon."

"A pure demon?" Neji stammered with wide eyes. He had finally found his link, this link could save his cousin once and for all. "So if we could find him – this could lead us to Hinata-sama." Now it was urgent, after so long he would get to help his cousin, and to save her. It meant everything to him.

Pure demons had been known as frightening demons, they were on top of the food chain and they apparently controlled a common supernatural monster. It would be exceedingly rare to see a pure demon, most people that have seen a pure demon had ended up dead. According to Neji's suspicions, the demons that attacked him sixteen years earlier were possibly pure demons.

"Don't get hasty Neji, just because you heard a message from one crazed vampire it doesn't mean that you found your cousin." Shikamaru stated seriously, bringing the coffee to his lips again. "I'll go to the hideout, and dig for some information – you just do what you do best and go shoot those underworld creatures."

The Hyuga pulled a cocky smirk on his face. "Good job Shikamaru, and tell Ino that I need another crossbow." He stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets, nodding to his co-worker and leaving the café.

Shikamaru resisted the urge to groan out loud. "Troublesome… that's the third crossbow this week; Ino's going to be pissed." He called in for the cheque, paying the waitress the tip and leaving the café himself. The sunlight glared down the footpath, making his eyes squint as he stared up the sky with envy. "Why couldn't I be a cloud?"

-:-

Neji found himself slightly prepared for the worst case. If Shikamaru didn't find something on the Orochimaru guy then he would be back on square one. The Akatsuki haven't been much help, even though they had promised any assistance in finding any clues. He had to search alone, use the contacts he had wisely and stay alive.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard paper slammed onto a post, he raised his eyebrow at the girl as she took a glance at him and reverted her gaze away. She took a final look towards the paper as she let out a sigh and simply walked past Neji, as if he didn't exist at all. Neji didn't mind though, he didn't want to get close to anyone. Even Shikamaru had a hard time trying to get his trust. He glanced at the flier on the post, detecting it was a missing person notice about some man that went missing a few days ago.

The Hyuga had to reframe a snort; he knew it was pointless asking humans for help. If someone was missing it was either that they were abducted, killed or worse… a monster now. Fate was cruel like that, if the world wanted somebody gone then they were as good as gone – nothing could change that unless you were to search with your whole life. For the first time, Neji had felt like defying fate by going after Hinata, somehow believing that she was still alive. The doubts of her death were weak; he still had to keep trying to find a way to access the path into finding the demons.

He was so distracted that he jumped when he heard the phone's high pitch call blasted into his eardrums. Growling with irritation, he noticed that the Caller ID was unknown but answered because it could be urgent and might save his life.

"Hyuga speaking."

_"Neji."_ The cold voice on the other line made Neji widen his eyes with disbelief. He could recognise the voice from anywhere, it held no patience but it had a sense of control over him. When Neji continued his silence, there was a soft grunt. "_I assume you know who I am."_

"Itachi." Neji hissed out the name immediately, but not in hatred – only confusion. "Why are you calling me instead of Hidan?" Ever since Neji could hunt on his own, he hadn't ever gotten a call from the Akatsuki other than Hidan, maybe it really was an emergency.

_"Hidan is out on a hunt, so I decided to speak on his behalf. I found a clue – to your little cousin, she's alive."_

Neji felt his hand tighten on the phone, teeth grinding together as he heard the news. He felt like the hope was getting stronger now that he knew Hinata was still alive after all these years. "What else?"

_"Recently they took another person… and we got a witness to say that you need demon blood to open up the portal of another realm." _Itachi responded in his calm way. The Hyuga had realised that he could be so close into saving his cousin. _"When we get the whereabouts of the portal – Hidan will inform you."_

Neji felt like his feet were frozen into the ground as he listened to Itachi's words. He took a deep breath from the truth, and whispered to the phone, "Is that all?"

_"No, in fact – we have discussed that it's time for you to get a partner for your night hunts."_

A partner? Neji didn't need a partner; he was fine on his own, looking for his own clues. He didn't want to risk anyone for his life, and them risking for his. The Hyuga had always been better as a solo hunter. Without his consent, Itachi continued with the idea.

"_She needs to have the training, a master with weapons but she can barely defend herself without them – surely this isn't too much of a task."_

Fury bubbled up in Neji's chest. Not only that he didn't want to train some girl who could barely defend herself, but he hated his ego threatened. There wasn't any way that Neji would allow his pride to demolish just because he wouldn't take care of someone's training.

"Fine…" Neji seethed with annoyance. "When do we meet?"

_"Tomorrow evening, Hidan will tell you what to expect." _Itachi responded coolly, while Neji muttered curses in his head. "_That is all."_

The Hyuga hung up on the phone and brought it to his pocket. Sometimes, he wished he could stop asking if there was anything else that his 'bosses' needed. He took another look towards the poster beside him, observing the male's face once before walking ahead; dreading the night that he would meet his partner for the first time.

_**A/n: Here is - the official first chapter, I'm glad that you guys like this story so far, hopefully I can keep it on the same track - just in case an another idea pops in my brain (Knowing me, it probably will) We also introduce the famous Nara Shikamaru - he's my favourite! I go crazy over him! I think I just like characters with longer hair... hmm... Maybe that's was I like Itachi over Sasuke**_

_*** Just the thought of Neji shirtless made me drool... I would've wrote it back there but then I would've killed the day dream... Ah crackas, I'm drooling again**_

_**Please review**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. I'm off my school holidays now, so I won't be updating as quickly :( though I still will be on - trust me, I am always on**_

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 2~Enter Mistress of Weapons**

A partner. Neji sighed with annoyance when he recollected Itachi's words. He had respect for the man, but sometimes the Akatsuki were going overboard with the whole partnership thing. The Hyuga had only been partnered once, and that was with his hunting trainer Sarutobi Asuma. Asuma lived to train the hunters, but one day he was sent on a solo mission, only to have Shikamaru find his limp body on the cold roads. Neji later on was informed that he would be working solo from now on.

He didn't expect to be given a partner after so long. No details of his future partner was given, expect she liked weapons and that she was a _she._ Neji didn't expect a girl to be his partner, usually they would cry out over a broken nail. This girl probably won't even last a week with that sort of attitude.

_It's for Hinata-sama._ The Hyuga would constantly remind himself as he folded his arms back and laid his head on his hands. If he had to be put up with a girly, slobbery fan girl then so be it. He couldn't disagree with the Akatsuki on anything until Hinata was safe.

Neji doesn't remember much about his younger cousin, except for her shy lavender orbs, short indigo hair and the little blush on her round face every time she met someone new. She probably has grown up to be a beautiful young woman, once he saves her from the demons then they would go live far away from the demon mess and probably settle down. One part of him never wanted to leave the hunting business, it made him feel alive and secretly it thrilled him whenever he would stake a vampire or slice open a demon's throat.

The peaceful moment of Neji's was suddenly interrupted by the phone call that he had been dreading over twenty-four hours suddenly rang, and Neji sat up on his bed to answer the phone with a plain, "What?" He grumbled, getting a quick change of clothes so he could be at least presentable to his new partner.

_"That stick's still hanging up your ass?_" Hidan wondered dryly, coughing back a chuckle as if he had known that Neji would glower at the small device. _"Anyways, new chick's downtown – I wanted to test her out so I sent her to go kill something – some possessive demon."_

"Did you not know that she's inexperienced?" Neji hissed through the phone, he could already imagine the worst possibilities. Though she wasn't the first to fallen for the classic trick of 'testing before use' even Neji had fallen for the trick, mostly because of his pride. Realisation dawned on him as he thoughts things over. This girl probably had pride.

_"Ah… who gives a fuck, you get to hunt solo again and I get a sacrifice to Jashin-sama. It's a win, win if you ask me."_ The phone went dead as Hidan hung up and Neji resisted the powerful urge to slam his phone on the wall.

However it didn't matter now, Neji had to go rescue some damsel in distress. He rolled his eyes at the thoughts and collected his necessary weapons before jumping out of his window. His routine had become a nightly thing; Neji wakes up, gets his call from Hidan, gets ready for his hunt, and jumps out of his window and over rooftops he goes. It doesn't change often.

He relied on his enhanced vision from _it_ to find any other unnatural creatures of the night. As oppose to a normal human being, the demon hybrids have superior senses, their speed is faster, their strength can sometimes be monstrous and there would be very few cases when the hybrid had unique abilities. Neji knew that most of the Akatsuki were part demon, and he has met only a few other than them but he doesn't officially know any hybrids. The very idea of knowing something part demon secretly sickened him; even being a part demon was revolting to Neji.

His hearing picked up on a howl of the night, signalling the direction of the demon. He pulled out his revolver and checked if he had any empty barrels. Demons were sometimes weaker against certain guns, which was why he used only certain guns at a time. As a possessive demon, they mostly take the form of spirits and can't be seen by the naked human eye but if they really want to chase someone down then they would possess another human body to enjoy the hunt.

A gunshot escaped the air, and it wasn't Neji's gun. He stopped leaping from the rooftops and waited for another shot, in which it did. The gunshot was louder than the last time he had heard it, it meant that he was closer before. Neji's eyes picked up on a figure pointing a gun directly towards the other figure, who was still standing and walking towards her like a zombie. He jumped down to the ground, feet splashing on the puddles upon contact.

Both of the figures took a look at the newcomer, deciding whether or not he was the ally. Soon enough, the unarmed figure roared unnaturally at him, it sounded almost like a warning to his eyes. Two bullet wounds had covered its chest, with blood faintly trailing down its chest and soaking up the man's clothing. Well he was as good as dead once the demon would leave his body. With a cold look in his eyes, Neji lifted his gun and shot the demon in between its bright glowing eyes, making the man scream out in pain before he fell to the ground.

The final figure still had her gun, staring suspiciously at Neji. Her chocolate hair tied up into two equal buns with bangs parting at the edge of her face with severe chestnut eyes observing Neji's movements silently, wearing a black slim singlet and tights, Neji could assume that this girl could be some sort of dark, gothic girl. She had looked familiar to Neji, but he couldn't properly recall where he had seen her before.

Unlike most girls, this girl didn't hold any fear in her eyes as she slowly removed her gun. Neji hid his surprise well as he too, pulled his gun away from firing. She turned around and dropped to her knees, to gently hold onto another body that Neji didn't see sooner. If he didn't know any better, Neji would have to assume that this girl wasn't alone before she got caught up by the demon.

"Welcome to life." The Hyuga stated bluntly, as the brunette looked up at him with a glare. "If you choose the life of a Hunter then you lose everything else. You were fated to suffer, and your friends were destined to be possessed by that demon." He muttered, keeping his gaze away from the girl.

"So Hidan was right when he said that my partner is a prick that's got a pole hanging from his ass." She responded harshly, making Neji return a glare back at her. This girl was nothing like the girl he imagined earlier, she was feisty, and it appeared that she had put up a fight with the demon. "I had that fiend too."

"Oh really?" Neji raised an eyebrow and approached the girl, his silvery eyes narrowed into slits as he watched her. "Would a skilled hunter fight a demon with a Nambu? And I was informed that you were a mistress in weaponry." He turned his back on her to observe the dead body that laid in front of him.

The girl glowered, standing back onto her feet with a glower. "I am! But I had to give up all my weapons for 'updates' as that blasted club said it!" Her eyes flared furiously as Neji turned slowly back to her, unamused with her attitude. "Listen up Jackass – I've lost three friends this week, two are dead and one is missing. I don't even want to work with you, but if it saves Naruto then I would gladly be stuck with you." She spat, crouching back to the body with grief. "He's the only one left…"

Neji didn't want to show his surprise that the girl in front of him wanted to save someone. He looked over to her with a furrowed brow and watched her as she tightened her grasp on the man. "Come on." His voice sounded unusually quiet but the girl looked up anyways. "Well bury the bodies."

She glared, but stood up as she approached the body that Neji was near and grabbed his arms. "I still don't want to work with someone like you." Neji didn't reply when they lifted the body together and took it out to an abandoned yard. For the Hyuga, it was common for him to bury bodies, but recently he didn't have to bury bodies because he had been able to kill the monster before it harmed the humans then again, considering that he had fought a possessive demon, there always had to be a sacrifice.

The duo silently placed the body in the yard, and Neji grabbed the single shovel to dig out both graves. He spared a glance at the woman every so often, she looked like she wanted to cry but her face appeared blank as she stared at the two fresh graves. Neji considered himself lucky, to have lost his family at a young age - he wasn't as attached as this woman was to her companions. It was true that he had love for his father, but if he were in her shoes and lost his father recently then he wouldn't have been exactly sane.

"I apologise for your loss." He muttered quietly after burying the two bodies, making the girl look at him strangely. "These people must mean a lot to you… and it could've taken a lot of you to be able to fire your weapon at them."

Something shiny trailed on one side of the woman's face, but she shook her head dismissively as she rubbed her face. "It was, but Gai and Lee did nothing wrong, they drove a few people crazy but they were good people." She stated softly, resting her gun on her belt.

"All those humans you were friends with, you should lose all attachment to. Monster hunting is a dangerous life, and having any attachments would just get your friends killed." Neji explained as he clapped the dirt off his hands and shoved them back in his pockets, deciding to walk back his home. He felt exhausted, women were too tiring to deal with - he wondered how Shikamaru could deal with two in his life.

"Wait!" The Hyuga paused, and slight turned to face the girl. Her chestnut orbs were focused on the ground, as she sheepishly tried to talk to him. "I'm Tenten - if I'm going to be your partner, I might as well know your name." She flicked her gazed towards Neji, almost as if she really wanted to work with him and to get stronger. He could read the sense of respect from the girl, as Itachi had told him the day before, she needed to train and get stronger.

"Hyuga." Neji replied coldly, as his ivory eyes leered at her. "Hyuga Neji."

Tenten relaxed, her eyebrows drew back as she slightly smiled back at Neji. "Thanks… For helping me with the bodies I suppose." She whispered, holding her elbow rather nervously.

He faced his back towards her with no emotion. "Hn. It was nothing special, it's my job to deal with the bodies." The Hyuga commented dryly as he walked out of the yard. "Hidan will call you when you have a mission." His eyes didn't spare a glance at his new partner as he spoke. "But until then, meet me at the café at noon for your first training lesson."

"Which one? Because there's probably eight cafés in this city."

"You would know which one." Neji retorted with a hint of cockiness. If she was to insult him then act like he was the bad guy then she's got another thing coming. He could call this part, her first training task - to get use to lack of sleep and find him in the right café. "If you don't know, it's one where people come in."

"Thanks for the clarification you jerk!" Tenten hissed, attempting to burn holes through his flesh. "I was being friendly with you and offering to be nice because I'm a human being!"

"Glad that one of us are." The Hyuga mumbled in a low voice, raising his eyebrow when Tenten gave him a look of annoyance. "Just considered this a part of your training. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make a call."

Just as Neji leaped onto the roof of a building, he heard a loud, "You arrogant Jackass!" From his female partner. He leaped through the air, and briefly glanced over his shoulder, considering his new situation.

"Tenten." The name easily rolled off his tongue in a soft voice. She was a human girl, who apparently knew in weapons. It wasn't uncommon for a human to take up the job as a hunter, but so many human hunters ended up dead because of their lack of skills. Hopefully this girl was different; she was different in personality wise. A fierce and proud girl, who was nearly capable of hiding her emotions, Neji knew that she would gradually learn to mask her emotions in the years to come. It didn't take him long to learn it, because he was still a child when he learned. Then it hit him: she was the same girl he saw putting up the poster for the missing person. Whoever she was looking for, they must mean a lot for her to join the Akatsuki.

His thoughts were interrupted by the phone that he had been expecting ever since the hunt succeeded. He picked up the phone, and narrowed his eyes at Hidan's sudden voice.

_"That chick still alive?"_ It sounded more like a demand question to Nei's ears. A silent groan escaped his lips, but it seemed that Hidan didn't hear it judging by the lack of response.

"Obviously, but two humans were killed during the hunt , one was before I arrived and the second was killed by me when the demon possessed him." Neji responded, landing on the final rooftop before entering the apartment. He placed his gun on the table, and took a seat by his chair as Hidan yelled out in excitement about two human sacrifices .

_"Finally! Jashin-sama approves! That panda chick is tougher than she looks if she survived her first hunt. Jashin-sama might've liked her, but if she can fight then she can stay."_

The Hyuga rolled his eyes as he placed the phone on the table and made the mobile on speaker. Sometimes it was just too much holding the phone to his ear so he could hear Hidan shout through the device. "Is that all?" A sudden beep declared that Hidan hung up, making Neji curse under his breath and glare at the phone. "Yeah sure - nice chat prick." He muttered, leaning back on the chair and stared at the ceiling. Neji sighed loudly to himself, it was a long night for him and the nights were about to get longer.

_**A/n: Now we introduce Tenten :D - I made her fiery! and I feel really, really, really, really bad that I killed off Lee and Gai. I love them to bits but, it was the only thing that seemed to fit in the story *Rocks in emo corner***_

_**Please review and let me know what you think**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. I've officially survived me first week back :D and I'm working really hard until graduation :D Don't try to get too crazy on me when this chap is over xD**_

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 3~ Seduction's a Pain**

"Your black coffee sir?"

The Hyuga raised his eyebrow to glance over at the waiter; the waitress had a sly smile as she towered over Neji. Her messy red hair was covering just her shoulders, with pale skin and coffee brown irises, wearing a simple waitress uniform for her work. Neji nodded slowly, watching intently as the smile deepened into an insidious smirk. Mentally, Neji considered going to a different café, but he had to wait until Tenten arrived, speaking of which. It was almost noon, and Tenten still hasn't arrived. Maybe she had terrible luck with finding things… or people. The waitress had remained in her spot too long for comfort, and Neji's eyes turned cold at the waitress, hoping she would leave him alone.

"You may leave now." Neji finally stated, making the waitress look around awkwardly and go serve someone else. He lifted the coffee into his mouth, about to drink it when the door slammed opened, revealing a very unhappy girl. "Ah Tenten, you have decided to join me." The Hyuga set the mug down and smirked when Tenten's chestnut orbs leered to him. She wore the same clothing that she had worn the night before, though the buns on her head were slowly loosening.

Tenten sent a dark glare at him, storming up to the table. "Of all the cafés that you sit in, you sit in the _Ama Café?_" She growled, as she was sitting down Neji noticed the bags under her eyes. It was obvious that someone didn't get enough sleep the night before. "I was running around all morning – and let's not forget to mention that I only had three hour sleep last night. Then you drag me to the furthest café in this city!"

"There's a reason why I brought you here of all places." Neji's eyes shifted towards the other people in the café. He pulled out a small card from his pocket and slid it over to Tenten. She gave an unsatisfied reaction to the card, but she accepted it anyways. "That's my number and address first of all – so when you need weapons or need to come to training. Secondly…" The Hyuga explained, trailing off and shifting his eyes away from the people when waitress noticed that Neji wasn't alone anymore.

"Is there something that your friend would like?" She questioned, smiling with the same smile that she had been giving Neji before. He raised his eyebrow as he observed the lady; inwardly decided thing the waitress was annoying.

Before Neji could say anything and dismiss the lady, he felt something kick his leg – quite hard actually. He winced and groaned under his breath while glowering at Tenten. The panda girl smiled innocently and turned towards the waitress. "Actually yes – I would like a latte please." She decided, nodding with delight when the waitress went to get the latte.

"What do you think of that waitress?" He questioned, locking his eyes to Tenten's chestnut orbs.

Her gazed quickly passed the waitress, before she looked back at Neji. "Well, she seemed nice... and very cute, but she had some weird look as if she wanted to eat me or something." Tenten decided, nodding with her answer while Neji raised another eyebrow suspiciously. She quickly got the message with his wary look. "And I don't swing that way, I'm just calling her pretty."

"That's why we're going to kill her."

Tenten gave a look of horror to her male partner, unable to believe what he had just said. "I'm not going to kill anyone just because they're _pretty_ Neji." She took a brief glance at the auburn haired waitress, smiling slightly when the waitress sent her a similar smile. The brunette felt something cold press on her leg, and realised that it was a gun that Neji was giving her. "Don't be ridiculous Hyuga! There's no proper reason to kill-!"

"Tenten." His cold voice interrupted her and stopped her sentence. "She's a succubus – that woman was trying to seduce us." Tenten had blinked silently before glancing over towards the woman, who seemed to arrive back with the latte.

"Here you are Miss, just let me know if you want anything else." The waitress stated, winking over towards Tenten before turning to Neji. "You too Sir." Just as she was going to walk away, Neji grabbed her arm suddenly with a flustered expression.

"Wait, I want something."

Tenten was rather amused, it was either that he was an excellent actor or he had really been 'seduced' by some supernatural creature about to eat him. He stood up and smiled kindly towards the waitress, hoping that she would buy it.

"And what's that?" The waitress whispered, leaning closer to Neji as her cool breath gave the Hyuga goose bumps. His eyes faintly glimpsed at the nametag, mentally cursing to himself when he realised he hated this job sometimes.

"I'm sure you can lead on, Tayuya." Neji replied huskily, holding a smile. With a faint smirk, she walked ahead, well aware that Neji was following her. He gave Tenten a brief glance, just as he jerked his head towards the exit with a dark glare. Tenten tilted her head, while Neji inwardly slapped his own face. If Tenten didn't know what he was saying, then Neji realised that he had just signed up for his official death.

Tayuya had led him out to the back of the café, an alley without the sight of other humans. "I don't see guys like you every day." She admitted softly, slowly trapping Neji in a corner as her brown orbs filled with pure lust. Neji suppressed an annoyed groan, but managed to keep a star struck expression.

"And I don't see girls like you every day." Neji countered with a dainty smirk, one of his hands reaching up to touch the waitress's face. The other hand reached in his jacket, preparing himself for the worst. Once the succubus kisses him, Neji knows that it would be all over.

"And what about that brunette back in there?" Tayuya wondered, fluttering her eyelashes innocently.

He had to keep telling himself it was all for Hinata as he spoke his next words. "What brunette?" A smile was brought onto his lips as he pulled out a syringe with clear liquid in it. Her lips slowly ghosted over his, and Neji decided to screw it. The syringe was lunged towards the woman, but her sharp eyes must've foreseen the attack because Tayuya had already jumped back with bright yellow eyes. She hissed furiously, as her skin darkened and her hair turned brighter pink.

"Fucking hunter! Shit heads like you are fucken killjoys!" Tayuya cursed as she pinned Neji to the wall, one hand managed to wrap around his throat. Neji cursed to himself that he had been too careless; the syringe fell out of his hands when she suddenly changed at him with inhuman strength. He struggled to get out of her grip, knowing that if his life would be threatened any closer that his inner demon would take over instantly. "Don't worry, I'll make sure that fucken dumb slut will have a good time before killing her."

"Tenten…" The Hyuga remembered, glaring at the succubus.

Tayuya chuckled with a snide grin. "Orochimaru-sama was fairly interested in your survival – I'll make sure that I give that Hyuga brat your regards." Neji widened his orbs when he realised she was talking about Hinata. This woman was… a pure? It couldn't be, she was just a succubus. He discharged the thoughts of hope, but he already knew that he wasn't going to survive this attack.

She lowered Neji down, her grin widening as her body approached Neji. The Hyuga was close enough to exhaustion, there was no winning – he was screwed when he gave Tenten that gun. Tayuya snickered and leaned closer to Neji, about to kiss him when Neji felt something warm splat onto his chest. He glanced down and noticed the drops of blood on his shirt – it wasn't his.

"Don't touch my partner." The voice threatened fiercely.

A pained expression appeared on Tayuya's face, looking back to stare at Tenten with wide eyes. A small handgun was directly pointed towards her chest. Unlike most of the time, Neji could see the grave expression in Tenten's eyes standing at the end of the alley. The auburn haired woman glared back at Tenten, turning her back on Neji.

"Fucken bitch. I hope you fucken burn in hell." Tayuya snarled, falling to the ground as she slowly perished into the next life. Her body morphed into a human-like appearance as Tenten lowered her gun and glared back at the body.

"I might, but I know you will first." Tenten spat, walking past the body and approached Neji cautiously. "Neji, did she kiss you or anything?" She wondered, her eyes calming down as she stared back at Neji.

"No, I'm fine." Neji replied shortly, slightly amazed that Tenten actually understood where he was, considering that she was acting clueless to his actions earlier. "You got a bullseye when you shot that succubus." He stated, picking up the syringe and threw it away. There was no point in keeping it if he had failed to use it the first time.

The brunette smiled widely, rather flattered by the comment. "Thanks! I have one hundred precent accuracy so I was absolutely sure that I was going to shoot her in the heart." She boasted, holding out the handgun towards Neji. "I think this is yours."

"Keep it." Neji decided, watching as the woman's face brightened. "I know you like that gun." He muttered, looking towards the body once again. "We should dump this body."

"But where? Aren't people going to assume that this is murder?" Tenten looked around the streets with confusion. "And it's in broad daylight! You're covered in blood!"

Neji rolled his eyes, for someone who appeared pissed off one moment before – she did exaggerate herself. "Don't worry so much – we won't be bothered." The Hyuga picked up the body and placed it in the dumpster, making Tenten roll her eyes this time. He wasn't going to bother burying a succubus that nearly killed him, so the succubus deserved to be placed in the bin.

"You are something, aren't ya Neji?" Tenten chuckled, locking the gun and placing it in her boot. He scoffed quietly to himself and approached Tenten as she continued. "How exactly are we getting out of here?" She inquired, squinting her chestnut orbs playfully. "We can't exactly reveal ourselves suddenly."

"This way." Neji wrapped his arms around Tenten's waist to hoist her over his shoulder, and pushed himself from the ground before Tenten could even speak. She screamed out in horror, clutching nervously onto Neji's shirt.

"Hyuga Neji! Holy crackers! I don't mind walking now!" Tenten screamed, praying that Neji wouldn't just drop her on the ground like he couldn't care. Her breath got caught in her throat when she saw the buildings shrink and grow continuously.

Neji had to reframe himself from laughing at her reaction while his hair went wild behind his head. It had been a while since he had been in proper company of someone, though she was a bit proud and tend to bash him if he said the wrong thing. "You should get used to it; some flying monsters will gladly throw you in the air before killing you."

"I'm _not_ looking forward for that day." Tenten grumbled as her stomach rolled around, she glared at Neji's hair as it whipped her face continuously. "Right now I'm wondering why I saved your life – you could at least get a damn haircut!"

The Hyuga smirked as he tightened his hold on Tenten, ignoring the comment about the haircut. "Because I'm about to show you a lot of weapons that you can keep." When he didn't hear an immediate response from his female partner, his smirk grew. He hit the right spot, a bit of pride dwelled in his chest when he discovered that he silenced Tenten.

Tenten glowered back to the buildings, "Stupid, hot, hybrid hunter that can bribe me with weapons." She grumbled, well aware that Neji could hear her.

"I'm hot am I?" Neji muttered, earning a whack across the head. "What the hell?!"

"Stop talking! Everything you say pisses me off!" Tenten growled, hiding her face in embarrassment. She wasn't too mad at him, but she was annoyed enough to not what him to talk at all currently.

"Hn."

The brunette rolled her eyes at Neji's grunt, and felt Neji come to a stop. It was about time. When he lifted her from his shoulders to place her on rooftop of a building, she lifted her fist and aimed a punch towards him, but he grabbed her arm before she could make contact with his pretty little face.

"Nice aim, but you aren't fast enough for a hit – yet." Neji let go of her fist and entered through his apartment window. Tenten grumbled under her breath and went through the window to find herself standing in Neji's room. For one thing, this room was clean; cleaner than her room. Everything seemed to be organised, from clothing, to books and guns. He must spend a lot of time alone.

Neji opened up his closet and revealed his weapons, hiding another chuckle when her eyes widened with astonishment. It would've been a dream come true for her. She stared at the weapons with amazement, before looking at Neji again with a smirk.

"I had more." The brunette remarked, her pride flooding through her eyes as she boasted about her legendary weapon collection.

"Yeah – but now you have two, so take some so you can defend yourself." Neji told her, taking off his jacket and throwing it on his bed. Tenten's smirk morphed into a scowl when she was reminded the Akatsuki had her weapons. She went through his weapons and Neji took his shirt off and inwardly groaned. He hated it when he wore a white shirt to a bloody mission, he should get darker colours more often. When the Hyuga went through his wardrobe, he growled out loud. All he wore was white.

"Hey Neji!" Tenten yelled from the cupboard, making Neji raise an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

"Can I take all of your weapons?" She wondered, entering the room with an armful of dangerous weapons with a wide grin.

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Meanie" The brunette pouted, and felt herself suddenly pause when she realised Neji wasn't wearing a shirt. At first she started to stutter to herself before turning away immediately. She wasn't going to be caught staring at him shirtless! "You should put on a shirt!"

Neji found himself… smirking back at the girl, who he had only known for a day. "Hurry up and pick five weapons, if you don't – you won't get any." He declared putting on his white shirt, mentally deciding that he was going shopping on a day he wasn't going to train Tenten.

Tenten sighed sadly, but moved on to pick her five weapons. Though she was disappointed that she couldn't rob Neji's weapons, she was glad that he had possession of shuriken and kunai. It wasn't easy looking for those weapons nowadays, considering that a weapon shop is always hidden in the city.

Neji patiently waited for his partner to pick her weapons, and he allowed her to take them. He didn't know why, but if he didn't train her, Neji knew that Hidan wouldn't shut up about it by the next phone call. Noticing that she had picked her weapons, Neji stood from his chair and beckoned for her to come out of the window again.

Tenten seemed hesitant, but she crawled out of the window, making sure that she wouldn't drop her new weapon as she climbed onto the rooftop of the next building. Neji jumped onto the rooftop smoothly, ignoring the fact that Tenten was in front of him. His ivory orbs locked with the chestnut, and Neji found himself slowly smirking.

"Alright, so to hunt a vampire..."

_**A/n: I enjoyed writing this chapter and I thought I would end it like this - Tenten had to be all adorable and innocent :D while Neji had to be shirtless- ah crackas... I'm drooling again. Give me a moment...**_

_**Oh yeah - we go on a bit of a month jump for the next chapter, and that's when the plot thickens *Evil laugh***_

_**Please review.**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. I'm dying Dx**_

_**...**_

_**Okay not really... but I got sick somehow, I had dinner, drank a glass of water before my throat started killing me. Then I went to bed in hopes to get rid of it, then I woke up with a killer fever. I still needed to go to school though so I walked in 30 degree heat, and put up with idiots that liked to yell out loud. I went home, attempted to write the chaps sooner, but then I passed out, didn't wake up until 12 in the morning and decided to screw it I'm not going to school the next day. I still feel a bit feverish to be honest.**_

_**But why this has to do with the story? Well blame the germs that got me less motivated to write *Waves arm angrily* and that doesn't happen often!**_

_**Oh well, I managed... So let's continue with the story!**_

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 4~ A Single Thread Called Attachment**

The days turned into weeks, and those weeks turned into months. Tenten's training soared the skies, and Neji found himself mentally proud of himself. There would be at least five monster reports each week, and the duo would go to finish the mission. Their hunts would run smoothly, and in the following week, their payment would be at their doorstep.

Neji had slowly gotten use to Tenten, and he could see that she was starting to have more respect for him. He didn't mind her company, realising that teaching her was rather amusing. She would curse out in annoyance while Neji would simply smirk down at her, which only made her angrier. So Neji did everything he could in his power to make Tenten faster and stronger, hoping that one day she will be able to catch up to him. With these teachings, Tenten started getting faster to the point that she ends up slashing into Neji's pale skin if he wasn't too careful. It didn't bother him at all, in fact it was quite the opposite and it only made him want to get better with her.

Tenten mostly used her kunai and shuriken to hunt, but if necessary she would use other weapons. It wasn't long until Tenten started sneaking into Neji's room just before he woke up in the morning, which surprised him because he had excelled hearing and he would've woken up due to his natural body reflexes. He was fine with it at first, as long as she didn't wake him up - he realised that he had said that too soon when he started waking with with a bucket of icy cold water thrown in his face.

Too frustrated to deal with Tenten's laughter he got his money and rented a nearby apartment for Tenten so she didn't have to sneak in his house. They've had their disagreements about hunts but in the end, they ended up getting along rather nicely.

"Woow! We sure bashed that zombie horde awesomely!" Tenten cheered, holding her bloodied mace with her shoulder. It was only recently when the Akatsuki brought back her weapons to her, Neji clearly remembered her hugging all of her weapons, telling them that she missed her… 'babies'. She hadn't been lying when she said she had more weapons than he did. It was still astounding that there were weapons that he hadn't even seen before. The brunette boasted the entire time that she makes weapons whenever she isn't training or picking locks for more metal. He chuckled quietly, hiding his face when Tenten gave a look towards Neji. "Why are you laughing? Are you teasing me?" Her eyes narrowed sharply as she questioned him.

"Of course not." Neji defended himself proudly, his ivory eyes taking a note on the mace, he tried not to shiver when he considered that Tenten had made this mace, and many more if she wanted to."It's just I've never seen anyone like you before; ."

"Oh Neji…" Tenten sighed dramatically, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You should meet my friend, she's worse than me."

"Oh that's not a good sign." Neji muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked into the empty and damp streets. "I'm quite surprised the world hasn't exploded if there's someone worse than you."

"Okay, she isn't _that_ bad." The brunette retorted playfully, grinning innocently. "She's cool; you would really get along with her." Neji took another look at Tenten faintly, his eyes calmly staring at her as she smiled back at him. Silence emitted over the duo as they walked together, keeping a calm atmosphere around them. "So why did you become a hunter?" She finally asked, her brow furrowed together when she noticed Neji flinch to himself.

"It's a long story." He replied coldly, something in his mind was warning him that he was getting attached – something that he had promised to keep himself from.

"Well make it short." Tenten pried, blinking innocently with the chestnut brown orbs that Neji had secretly become fond of.

Neji didn't want to trust Tenten, because he was afraid if his demon would wake up unexpectedly and attack Tenten but for some reason he found himself able to feel relaxed with her. She had been Neji's only true company since Asuma, however even before then, Asuma had a family and loved ones to return to. Many people he had met chose to stay away from him because of his reputation of a monster hunter, and the fact that he was part demon. Eventually Neji concluded that they were frighten of Neji's darker side, too terrorised to deal with Neji's wrath.

"Years ago, the demons attacked my family and my cousin Hinata-sama…" He wanted to trail off, to cut himself off the world as he told the curious brunette his story. "She was taken by a pure demon –apparently they were after my demon blood, until the Akatsuki arrived to kill the demon. They said to me that Hinata-sama could still be saved, if I joined them and rescued her myself. Of course I accepted, but all I've gotten was rumours from the past, my associate, Shikamaru is currently finding out any clues if he could find a missing link." Tenten listened, her eyes were directly focused on his and she found herself rather interested that Neji would go through so much just to save his cousin. His fist automatically clenched when he realised that Hinata was so far from his reach, even when he had worked so hard to retrieve her. "When I find Hinata-sama, I will be leaving this place for good to find a better life out there."

"So you would be leaving all of this life, behind?" The female questioned suddenly, surprising Neji that she asked such a question. She shook her head to herself and looked at her feet sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine." Neji cut off, making her rise her head towards him again. "What about you? Is your story any longer than mine?"

"I honestly don't know." Tenten replied with a dry laughter, her eyes stared at the end of the street. "My parents were killed by some demon, so I was shipped off to an orphanage. I stayed there for fifteen years, until the supernatural world took over our world – but once I was out, I practically starved out there." She felt her voice turning harsh at the memories. "I was surprised that I wasn't killed by any demons, but I met Gai, Lee, and Naruto. They welcomed me into their homes with opened arms, and I stayed with them until we were attacked." Neji silently watched her as she did to him previously, observing the anger that she hid in her eyes slowly leaking out. "Lee and Gai were greatly injured, Naruto vanished with the demon and I was fine." Tenten blinked back angry tears. "I wasn't hurt, but Naruto was taken, I shot Gai and Lee after they were possessed. And then..."

"The Akatsuki came to you, offering a deal if you were to hunt monsters then they would help you find this Naruto kid?" Neji piped up, making Tenten look back at him as if she had snapped out of a nightmare. She nodded silently and stared up into the night sky. He didn't know how to comfort her, it wasn't in his speciality zone. Usually Neji was use to killing demons, and making dealings with people throughout the city, not lending people his shoulder so they could cry on. "Tenten…" His voice was so lowered that Neji was surprised that it was himself that was actually speaking.

She laughed quietly, her chestnut orbs sparkling with delight. "You're not good with emotions, are you?" Tenten laughed, while Neji narrowed his eyes in frustration.

"I haven't properly used my emotions so long, so it's rather hard to understand them." He replied awkwardly, watching as Tenten's laughter ran louder. "You don't need to mock me of it."

Tenten grinned widely as she knew she hit a nerve with the Hyuga. "You aren't too bad with emotions, after all – you are really nice and you seem…" Her eye lids lowered as she watched his eyes. "Lost… like you're missing something." She glanced back at Neji, slowly smiling towards him for a moment before staring down at the sky again. "Which would probably your cousin, after all you wanted to save her more than anything. Losing someone hurts more than any open wound, especially if you came out of the conflict without any injuries because you blame yourself."

"When I lost my father, the first person I blamed it on was my uncle." Neji admitted, looking up in the sky with Tenten in deep thought. "My father was one of those people who you could greatly respect, and wish you could be, but I knew I couldn't be my father, I do not deserve the respect that you give me."

Tenten's eyes narrowed dimly as she glowered at Neji. "Neji, you are a good person – not everyone would become a hunter for a family member." She stated with a serious glare, but she picked up the pace on her feet. "Hyuga Neji, you deserve every damn gram of respect I give you-"

Neji halted in his tracks, observing Tenten walk ahead of him. "Tenten…" He sighed, making the female turn around with the same glare.

The brunette ignored his pleas for her silence and continued, unaware that she raised the mace to point at him, "Neji, you have saved lives – more than me! You have given me weapons when I was dry on them – we just smashed through zombie brains as if they were mailboxes-!"

"Tenten."

"What?!" She finally snapped, only standing just in front of him with hard eyes and a fierce glare. Tenten didn't usually get angry over nothing, most of the time it was just pent up feelings. Neji could see that she was finally letting it out, as he watched the visible pants in the air due to Tenten's rash breathing. He kept himself calmly and walked towards Tenten, who stiffened up automatically. The unexpected happened; Neji wrapped his arms around his female partner into a … hug. Her eyes widened in horror as he placed his head over hers, automatically letting the mace clatter once it hit the road. "Okay, you've officially gone crazy…" She stated, trying to pull herself away from the hug but Neji's arms secured her in before giving up trying to escape his iron hold.

"You're right Tenten, thank you." It took a lot of pride for him to do both things, to hug and thank the same girl that he had trained. He had to admit, life was changing for him ever since he found Tenten with wide eyes and pointing her nambu directly at her father figure. She had been raised up like an ordinary human girl, but she had lost the ones who were important to her.

"It's all good – now can you let go? I'm kinda tired after beating up zombies and lecturing you about life."

Neji felt his cheeks burn, but he pulled away almost instantly. "Right, sorry."

"An apology, a sign of gratitude _and _a hug all in ten minutes?! That must be a new record for you Neji!" Tenten teased with a smirk. "I bet I'm the first woman that you've ever touched since forever."

It was Neji's turn to smirk. "Nope, Tayuya the succubus was before you."

"Well, I'm glad that I killed off that red headed lunatic before she could kiss you." Tenten sneered with a playful tone. "Now I prove to those succubus freaks that you don't need seduction to get a man to touch you!" Neji raised an eyebrow as Tenten laughed out loud in her head. Clearly obvious that Tenten was still going crazy after the hug.

"This is coming from the same girl who assumed that Tayuya was a nice little sweetheart." The Hyuga retorted, as he folded his arms with a cocky smirk.

"That was all an act!" Tenten tried to protest, but paused when she heard a moan. Neji heard it as well as he turned around to see a lone zombie limping towards them – its clothes were bloodied and tearing from his body and its face slowly rotting away as maggots chewed on its cheek.

Yes, very ew.

Neji was going to pull out his gun and shoot the undead corpse when Tenten had beaten him to the kill, firing three times to the zombie's head before it collapsed to the ground with the same handgun he had given her when she killed the succubus. Its blood spilled through the air as its head split in half and the body fell due to the gravity.

"That was gross." Tenten stated with a hint of disgust in her voice as she blew on the end of the gun. "I've always wanted to do that." She giggled, just as she locked her gun and placed it in her holster on her jeans. Neji had to pause and mentally rewind the moment. Did Tenten just... giggle? Her amusement was cut short when she noticed that Neji hadn't said anything to her, and she looked over towards him with curious eyes. "Neji, why are you smiling?"

The Hyuga flinched when he felt his own lips in a soft smile. He didn't know what possessed him, but his frown reappeared on his face when he realised that he hadn't ever smiled before watching Tenten giggle. Thoughts of Tenten giggling made him automatically smile again, which made him inwardly, scowl. Neji admitted that he had been… happier since he had the company, but he didn't want it because of his fear. Fears for his demon, Neji didn't want Tenten to be hurt. He shook his head in confusion. What was going on with him?

"Leave me alone, I wasn't smiling." Neji finally denied, calmly shutting his eyes and turning away from the brunette. Whatever he was feeling, the weird light stomach feeling would hopefully go away. He was just sick, after just watching a zombie head splatter everywhere.

"Whatever you say." Tenten stated sarcastically, lifting the mace up again and swinging her arms around as she walked. Neji tried to ignore the random arm brushes, and the spine chilling feeling that he got every time her heard her sigh. It was getting to annoying for his liking. He wished that the tingles would go away, despite it had felt nice, it made him nervous at the same time.

"Come on, we should get going home." Neji tried to say, but Tenten grabbed his arm suddenly. "What's wrong Tenten?"

"I don't wanna go home yet, I got a better idea." She stated with her childish smile. "Let's go on the roof!"

"The roof? After all those times you declared hated jumping through the air?" Neji did not forget the horrid time Tenten would scold him for jumping around foolishly. It was a month later when Tenten declared that she didn't want to jump anymore and stubbornly stuck to her position.

"I just want to go on the roof." Tenten replied, looking back at Neji with pleading eyes. "Please?"

The Hyuga cursed to himself once his ivory orbs locked into the chestnut orbs. They were warm, as if a flame burned through both of them and projected its heat into him. He discharged the thoughts, and silently wrapped his arms around her waist. His heart started pounding through his ribcage, like a wild bird threatening to escape its cage. Neji couldn't understand why he was so nervous; but his stomach tightened when she lazily threw away the mace, making it head into the closest bin and wrapped her arms around his neck softly.

"Hold on." He muttered as his cheeks slowly turned red from the physical contact. Pushing himself from the ground, Tenten gasped at the cool breeze and tightened her grip on him. Something in Neji liked having Tenten hold him, like she had to hold him so she didn't fall. _But I will always catch you._ The thought made Neji smile softly again, of course he would always catch her, she was his partner.

When they landed on the roof, he made himself let go of Tenten and she broke out with excitement. She sat on the roof and smiled calmly as her eyes focused on the sky. Neji hadn't ever seen the brunette smile with a calm expression, he had seen her ecstatic smile when she got her weapons back, or playful smile when she teases him but the calm smile… never. He took a seat next to Tenten and stared at the sky, frowning in confusion.

"It's still amazing!" Tenten exclaimed cheerfully, watching the night above her.

"So what are you staring at? All I see is a bunch of stars." He wondered blanking, making Tenten give an annoyed look towards him. Neji hadn't ever understood why people were so interested in nature watching – then again he had watched birds because he envied their freedom but enjoyed their company at the same time.

"Can't you see Neji?" She raised her hand to point to the stars, speckled across the night sky like flavouring and her smile grew. "You don't just look at the stars, you observe the colours of the stars – and if they slowly move or just keep burning in that one spot." Leaning closer to Neji she proved her point when Neji's ivory orbs witness one of the smaller stars slowly moving. "You can see so many patterns of the stars, and it makes you wonder about the world before everything happened."

Neji's breathing became shallow as her warm breath grazed his cheek, he kept focus on the sky and he realised that he actually enjoyed the star watching. "Yeah… I see it." The small dots in the sky slowly moved, it wasn't too slow but it didn't jump through the sky like bugs.

Tenten kept her smile and leaned her body to Neji, to her surprise he didn't move. It didn't stop from his heart picking up its pace for being so close. "People like watching the sunset, or the ocean, but I'm in love with star gazing because I feel like I'm not alone after everything has happened."

"But you aren't alone – ever." Neji spoke suddenly, making Tenten tilt her head to face him. "I've been training you for four months now, and you've been in my life nearly every second of the day. I will not leave you, until Hinata-sama has been saved."

The brunette watched Neji for what seemed like forever before she smiled and hid her face from his sight. "You know Neji, you are much better at comforting people than you give credit for." She chuckled, unaware that Neji smiled.

"Hn."

Tenten turned back to face Neji, playfully glaring at the Hyuga. "And you had to kill the mood."

Neji raised his eyes to the sky again, keeping his focus on the stars again. When he noticed a flash in the sky, he felt the weight press onto him and he noticed that Tenten had fallen asleep on him. The Hyuga's nerves returned, but he ignored it and decided that later on he would go back to his house with Tenten - the stars were interesting to watch. His focus on the sky was interrupted by a ring, which made Tenten stiffen in her sleep and Neji immediately answered.

"Hyuga speaking."

_"How's your new apprentice coming along?"_ Itachi wondered on the other side of the line. Faint voices on the other line were conversing, but they weren't loud enough for Neji to hear.

Neji strengthened his body as he heard the familiar cold voice. "Itachi, why are you calling?" He was getting surprised every time Itachi would call, he hadn't call since he declared Tenten was to be his partner but it obviously meant that Hidan was on another hunt.

_"I asked you a question first." _It sounded closer to an order for him to report Tenten's progress but Neji didn't want to lose his partnership with Tenten. She still had to learn so much.

"She's fine, and she listens to my orders when I give them to her." Neji responded calmly, _Most of the time. _The Hyuga added silently but he didn't want to give Itachi any assumptions that he would be having trouble with training Tenten.

"_Well, I would like to inform that we have found the path to your cousin."_

_**A/n: I thought it would be time to end the chapter there. I thought it would've been easier writing this chap, because I had wrote a similar scene a long time ago, but then I just shrugged it off and wrote everything from my imagination.**_

_**If I could keep one of nature's beauty - I would choose the night sky and their stars and moon... why? To be honest I have no idea, I basically fell in love with star watching because they remind me of tiny crystals glowing up the night sky - a few years back I was struck with grief, and I looked up to the stars which were back then considered my only friends but then I got a hold of myself and moved on with life, never forgetting the star-gazing... it also helps me question about my life. If I'm doing well with my life? What would *Whoever* think of whenever I did this? I'm actually pretty deep if I'm in the mood - some people say I'm too deep for their liking but I don't really care. I am, who I am... if that made any sense...**_

_**Fleur-de-Lys-Chan: When I read the last part of your review, I couldn't help but chuckle - but it was because I had just woken up it sounded like a zombie or something xD but I am flattered... I am a bit weird... okay change that I'm really weird!**_

_**Please review.**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. I survived! Yay... but other than getting cured of sickness my stomach feels like its going to explode of anxiety... I have nearly two weeks left of school until I'm out... forever... Just thinking about it made my heart race in my chest.**_

_**But first up I have an English speech about where reading has taken us to. I would've used some fanfictions but the teachers won't allow me to Dx but the bottom line is... I sort of rushed through this chap and I wanted my lovely readers to get something before I would do my speech on Tuesday... WAH! I'm so nervous! Dx **_

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 5~ Against Fate**

The silence dawned on Neji as he heard Itachi's previous words. He didn't know how he felt; there a mixture of determination, desire and… sadness? There was no denying that he wasn't feeling the best of moods, he may be rescuing his cousin but once Hinata has been saved Neji was going to leave the life behind him. Neji would no longer be in debt to the Akatsuki, but it also meant that he would have to leave Tenten because he knew that she wasn't going to give up until she found her friend. Did Neji grow attached to her? Like he had sworn himself no to do?

Swallowing the saliva so he could moisture the dryness of his throat, Neji tried speaking up again. "So…" He felt his own voice go hoarse as he grinding his teeth together. The overwhelming shock must be weakening him down. It was the question that he had been asking himself for sixteen years. "Where is my cousin?" Something made Neji stiffen as Tenten unconsciously buried herself deeper in Neji's chest, guilt stirred rapidly in his stomach.

_"It's a small town, seven hours north. The town called-"_

"Konoha." Neji cut the stoic Akatsuki member off as he realised that Hinata had been taken to his hometown, he was born there, and he had lived there for the first four years of his life. How could he have not seen it? When the Akatsuki had claimed him, Neji had to move out of the town before he could start searching and that was when he met Asuma, his trainer. Asuma had promised to help Neji find his cousin, but he ended up dead before he could help him any further.

_"Yes, and there's a large cliff with the Hokage's faces – you must prove that you are demon by cutting blood and pouring it on the Third Hokage's monument. I would suggest you to get prepared for your leave, I sent someone down there with a car."_ The phone instantly hung up as Itachi finished speaking, leaving Neji speechless. He finally got to leave, and save his cousin. However what will come of Tenten? His worry for her grew, but he forced himself to get a grip so he could save Hinata. Slowly he wrapped his arm under her back and his other arm under her legs, her head nestled comfortably on his chest.

Neji jumped from the rooftop, something in his chest was still weighing him down as he got closer to his apartment, pondering about his situation with her. She had grown on him, despite the fact he disliked the feeling of getting attached to someone again. Ever since he had met Tenten, his job has been easier, he stopped stressing over the fact that Hinata could die at any moment. The reason why he had stopped worrying was because Tenten had her own friend trapped in the monster realm and she worked hard just so she could survive another day to see him again – secretly, Neji admired that sort of strength she had.

His heart stopped for a moment as he landed on the final roof of his apartment and crawled through the window. Something in his chest started to tighten as he gazed around the room, realising that it had been slightly messier ever since he had met Tenten.

He ignored the feeling of regret and placed Tenten on his bed, who had comfortably reached for his pillow and snuggled closer to her. Her fingers clasped tightly on the sheets, gently mumbling and shivering when she was put in a new spot as Neji pulled away from her. Her peaceful expression held a soft smile; with her gentle lips slightly parting with buns loosened enough for him to see her chocolate locks were really long. After a moment watching her, Neji couldn't help but find Tenten really cute in that scene and placed the blankets over her body. His eyes hardened with realisation, and he squashed the warm feeling that grew in his stomach as he grabbed an empty bag, beginning to pack all of his possessions.

Tenten could stay in his apartment; after all she barely stays in her room, take the remaining weapons that he wasn't going to bring. As Neji had finished packing his final gun, his phone alerted him that his ride was waiting for him. The alarm was enough to wake up Tenten, as she yawned and stretched out of Neji's white sheets. Light streamed in the edges of his windows as the morning declared itself present. Her head tilted in confusion, but her confusion deepened once she saw Neji grimly staring at her with his bags.

"Neji, what's going on? Are we going on a hunt?" Tenten wondered as she hopped out of the bed. "You should've told me that we needed to get ready."

"No." His cold voice made Tenten pause, and glance back at him with more puzzlement. "I'm saving Hinata, you're working solo from now on."

The brunette's chestnut eyes widened in horror as she heard Neji dismiss her so easily, "No, I can come with you and help you save Hinata." She offered, approaching Neji as she spoke.

Neji couldn't fight the heart shattering feeling in his chest, his mask never showed his emotions and he never intended on breaking it. "No. I'm not going to be dragged down by a girl who can barely even stay up after watching a few stars – you are too weak to be fighting pure demons."

"Okay big-shot what's this all about?" Tenten hissed, facing up to him like one of those small dogs. If Neji truly knew Tenten, he knew she wasn't going to go down without a fight. His brow deepened into a scowl, his moonlit orbs glared down at her as he tried to come up with excuses. All Neji wanted to do at that moment was push her away, to leave Tenten out of this fight.

"You're just a naïve brat who couldn't even shoot at her own friends and that believes that the Akatsuki will help your friend." Each time Neji insulted her he felt like punching himself, or worse. Most of it seemed like a lie, the Akatsuki had found Hinata and called him, though it took sixteen years for them to finally find her. Nevertheless, his glare hardened as he spoke. "You humans always overthink – they underestimate the situation and get themselves killed. That's you aren't capable of saving your friend, he was claimed by destiny the day he was born that he would work as a human slave."

"Hyuga, you cannot say any of that bull crap!" Tenten retorted proudly, and Neji felt slightly annoyed that she wouldn't give in to him. Her stubborn ego of hers was slightly infuriating. "First of all, you try growing up with someone and having to shoot them in head! Second of all, you are breaking through 'fate' just so you could save your cousin!"

"Fine." Neji seethed, taking his trusty revolver from the table and shoved the weapon in her hands. "I never grew up with you, so you should be able to kill me right away." When Tenten didn't respond, Neji yanked her arm to point the gun at his head in the centre of his bandana. "Shoot me. I'm going against my destiny so I deserve to die."

"What's with your crap about destiny anyways?!" The brunette pulled away the gun again and glared back as she immediately prepared her debate. "You think its destiny that the Akatsuki claimed you? Even if I did shoot you, it won't change the fact that you are running from something! Last night, I saw that you had something to fear once you saved Hinata – you think you're an ice cube but sometimes, that ice cube melts!"

"You want to see why I want to leave this city? This life? Once I have saved Hinata-sama?" He reached up for his bandana that had been itching for too damn long, as he pulled it off, the skin hidden underneath the black cloth revealed itself in front of Tenten. Her eyes widened in horror, judging her reaction Neji could see that she wanted to know what it was. "This is my curse, with it… my destiny is to protect Hinata-sama and keep her safe, and once it's activated it's the worst pain that you could encounter. This is my weakness and if those demons find out, they will use it against me because they have Hinata-sama." Neji covered the seal again, keeping his ivory orbs hard. "If you think that I am fighting against destiny then shoot me right now."

Tenten looked at the gun in her hands; her body was shaking with anxiety. She flickered her eyes from the gun and to Neji again continuously, almost as if she was considering the situation however, Tenten was trying to understand what Neji was implying on her. Her brow furrowed into a scowl as she glared back at Neji, moving the gun from his forehead. "No, I won't shoot you – so don't ask me to do it jackass."

The Hyuga took a step towards Tenten, for a moment he towered over Tenten as his ivory orbs flared with irritation. Why did she have to be so stubborn? Couldn't she see that Neji was trying to protect her? "Then you're weak, if you unable to shoot me then you're weak." He spat out the words like it was a curse and took the gun from Tenten's hands. "That's makes humans so weak… and girls so pathetic." Ignoring the achy feeling in his chest again, Neji couldn't bare himself to look at Tenten. He couldn't take it, so he began walking out of the apartment and out of Tenten's life.

"Neji! The reason why I won't shoot you is because you're my friend! My trainer!" She shouted furiously, as she stood her ground. Tenten didn't even appear to be mad about Neji insulting her gender, she seemed mad that he had questioned her strength. Neji paused mid-step, the agonising feeling in his chest deepened but he tilted his head back at her, trying to look at anything but her eyes. His mask had threatened to crack underneath her stare, and he tried to feel nothing… but it wasn't working like he had hoped.

"On the night we met, I had warned you that as hunters we were fated to suffer in our lives. Calling me a friend was the biggest mistake you could ever make." It was a low blow, but it was the biggest push he was going to give himself to walk out of his life. Her chestnut orbs widened, filling up with hurt and betrayal as they desperately stared back at him. Neji had to force himself to not look back because he would stop take Tenten with him. She was his partner, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, he would back her up as she would do the same for him.

Another reason why he couldn't have Tenten come with him was because of humans… if any of the demons had seen her connection to him and the fact she wasn't anything close to a demon then she would be tortured in front of him. Neji didn't want that, in fact- he couldn't ever see her hurt. He knew she was gone from his life now, and hopefully would hate him so that she would stay safe. It was bad enough that the demons held Hinata captive, and he was struggling to trace his steps carefully so that he could save her. Maybe they could become friends again if they met after everything had settled down.

A dry laugh slowly escaped his throat as he thought the slightest possibilities that Tenten would forgive him. She definitely hated him after causing her so much pain. He left the apartment building, and noticed the roofless light blue RX 8 parked in front of him. Whoever had to drop off the car was definitely gone because the keys were still in the ignition. Neji sat in the driver's seat, and slowly started it up, giving one final look to the building before starting the vehicle and driving down the streets.

He needed to let go of his situation, Tenten was gone for good. The Hyuga had to keep repeating to himself that he wasn't going to turn around. Neji knew he needed to distract himself, so flicked on the radio to peacefully listen to music. His hair followed the breeze as he drove in the correct speed limit.

It was weird, when Itachi called him the night before Neji, he never got any information about Hidan. In fact, he would've been absolutely sure that he had heard Hidan shouting out curses in the background – he hadn't been too sure. On a normal morning, only a few cars would be driving around the street however in this particular morning, fewer cars than usual have been exiting the border. With a sigh, Neji gave another look behind him, a sense of regret came flooding in him quickly before his frown turned into a glare and he pushed on the accelerator, darting out of the city and into the highway.

His car rumbled calmly, and Neji took this as an opportunity to observe out of the borders. Most of the surroundings were long stretches of grass, most of the patches hidden by thin and weak trees. The wind to him wasn't much of a bother but a relaxing scent lingered in the air as it slapped Neji in the face. It had been so many years since he escaped the city and into the borders. The song that he had been listening to changed, into some love song which made him inwardly groan.

He couldn't take love songs, where someone would go deep into their emotions just for the sake of their other half. The lyrics reminded him of Tenten for some odd reason, and for that he got annoyed by thinking of the brunette. With a glare, Neji changed the radio station; which once again revealed a sappy love song. Neji groaned again and flicked through a few other stations – all of them being coincidentally love songs and constantly reminding him that he had left Tenten for herself.

"Shut the hell up!" Neji snapped at the radio, jerking his car to the side of the road and slamming his fist against the poor radio. The music box suddenly fell silent, making Neji bury his face in his hands as he tried figuring out the storm of emotions that were racking his brain. Why the heck did he get so riled up by thinking of Tenten? She was just a girl, a female human that had the same goal as he did but he was going through with his. He only wished that Itachi never brought her into his life, Neji always wanted to remain alone in his hunts so that he wouldn't get any friends.

The idea was to rescue Hinata and start over… but did he really want to start over? He enjoyed the hunts; he remembered feeling proud as Tenten would kill something on her own, without his help. Not that she needed his help at all. She saved him from a succubus, batted zombies and managed to directly shoot a zombie's head off from a few metres away. She learnt things that would've taken him years to learn in a few months.

"That's it." Neji told himself, staring up the car again and going for a U-turn back into the city. He should've known better, Tenten could take care of herself. She could never get hurt so easily if they enter the demon's realm. Tenten was too stubborn to die, let alone leave him alone. He discovered that she has an annoying habit of picking at his brain and bothering him wherever he was. Whether she was near or on the other side of the city. But for some reason, Neji didn't seem to mind.

His car sped through the opposite of the road, earning himself a few disruptive honks from the other drivers, though Neji couldn't care less. He smoothly dodged the other cars, until a bright purple car suddenly skidded itself to a stop. The Hyuga instantly recognised the brightly coloured car and stepped on the brakes, making it screech itself into a halt before it could collide with the other car. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and stepped out of the car in annoyance, barely observing the figure as she exited the car.

"Was that really wise Ino?" Neji started to ask, when he widened his ivory orbs as he noticed that the girl wasn't a classic blonde but more of a classic brunette. "Tenten?"

"Hey Neji, do you really think that you could get rid of me that easily?" Tenten wondered mockingly, smirking wider when a blonde woman stepped out of the other car, holding a hand to her chest.

"Tennie dear, I love you but you a freaking crazy!" She scolded, before looking over towards Neji. Her bright blue orbs blinked innocently and forced a broad grin. "Hey Neji! It's been a while, getting caught up with too much work I'm assuming."

"What's going on?" Neji questioned, ignoring the other cars honking at them to get off the road.

Tenten rushed towards Neji with the same smirk, but Neji could see that it was forced on her, almost as if she was secretly pissed off. "I'll explain on the way, right now – we're going to park Ino's junk."

"Hey!" Ino was anything but pleased when she heard the insult of her car, but stormed off in the bright purple car to move it off the road.

"And then we're going to go to Konoha – and we're not going to take no for an answer!" Tenten had cut Neji off before he was going to speak and the Hyuga slowly smiled. He was glad that she chased after him, after the way he insulted her. His eyes avoided hers, cursing silently to himself when his cheeks burned in embarrassment. Just as he was going to apologise, Tenten had spoken again. "Oh yeah, before I get in that car with you I just want to let you know I'm still pissed off about that crap, jackass." She shoved Neji roughly and hopped in the car while Ino – who had gotten into her car and parked it on the side of the road, cheerfully walked towards him, dropping a large box in his arms.

"You have it bad Neji… there's your crossbow, now drive us to Konoha." The blonde demanded with a wink before she hopped in the back seat, making Neji sigh to himself. He has to remember to ask Shikamaru on how he sees Ino as a wife. But now at least Tenten was coming with him, though he would need to get the right timing to apologise to the woman.

_Since when did I care about these things?_ Neji realised, ignoring the pounding of his head as he thought of his brain teaser. Whatever it was, Neji prayed that it would end soon.

_**A/n: Here you lovely people go, like I said - I sort of rushed through this chap so if it has mistakes and if it sounds stupid - I agree but eh... its better than nothing...**_

_**Please review.**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. Woo! No more assignments! Just exams! Got Maths and Legal coming up... urgh... the two worst subjects... but it doesn't matter, all you guys care about is a good old chap**_

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 6~ The attack**

By the end of their explanation, Neji briskly stared at the road as his hands tightened around the steering wheel. "Hn." He shouldn't be surprised, but he was surprised at his newly fed information. His fingers started to ache at the feeling of tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

"It turns out that Naruto was trapped in the same place as your cousin, so I went to the only other person I know that happens to have a car!" Tenten repeated for the third time as if the whole idea hasn't gone to his head already. She didn't appear mad at Neji, though she declared before they entered the car that Tenten was still annoyed that he tried to abandon her. That's when it hit him like a brick wall. Tenten was using a mask to cover up her true feelings so that Ino wouldn't feel too awkward in the car.

"And cause I needed to give you're a new crossbow – which you must not lose by the way otherwise I'll start doubling the price for you – I decided I would drop Tenten off to her charming boyfriend." Ino had said the last few words with sarcasm making Neji glare at her through the mirror while Tenten turned around to glare. The blonde stared at the duo innocently, blinking with a smile. "What? It's not like your denying it."

"Ino, you must be insane if you think that I'm going to _ever_ date someone who obsesses about fate half the time!" Tenten snapped, giving a heated glance at Neji before glaring back at Ino.

Neji winced inwardly at the sound of Tenten's harsh voice, his conscience telling him that he did deserve to be told off for the things he said earlier and felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "You have no idea what you're on about; now tell me about the phone call Shikamaru gave you." He growled, still annoyed that he could easily feel shy at the mention of being the brunette's 'boyfriend' he didn't even like her that way…. Or did he? The Hyuga discharged the thought and stared at the road, trying to understand what he had gotten himself into.

It was late morning now and according to Neji, he assumed that they would arrive to the town a few hours after noon. He hated long travel, which was one thing for sure. So far, they passed a few other towns and cities, only stopping for bathroom breaks and lunch breaks. Neji had considered taking another lunch break; he was starting to get hungry at the thought of having no food. Back in the city, Neji didn't have to worry about stopping for food because there was always a place he was familiar with, he would know if monsters would hunt in that particular area at certain times. Now that he was in a foreign place outside the city, Neji had to be on his guard just like Tenten and Ino had to.

They seemed like nothing terrible was about to happen, Neji was going to go into a realm that didn't exist for humans five years ago. Why were they so calm about this case? Weren't they frightened that they might not survive the next day or so? The question made Neji bit his bottom lip. Was _he _afraid of death?

"Shika was telling me that he found something, and he needed me to come to Konoha because he doesn't trust the feeling that he had left me alone while his mother went on vacation or something." Ino implied, rolling her eyes at the thought of her husband's soft spot. Even if he was a lazy-ass, she loved Shikamaru no matter what. "He also told me to bring you."

"Hn."

"Okay, what the hell is with that grunt of yours anyways? Why don't you grow out of that grunt like Sasuke did?" Ino whacked Neji's shoulder but he didn't respond while she ran her fingers through her blonde hair. The heat was getting to the group too quickly. "Urgh, this car is so quiet! Put some music on!" She complained, shaking his shoulder impatiently. His eyes gave her a cold stare through the mirror, making Ino shudder at the sight before turning away from him. "I swear you're just as stubborn as you were back into high school."

Neji had ignored her, but turned on the music to shut her up. It revealed some old country song because they were so far from the city. Ino groaned loudly and planted her face in Neji's seat.

"So you guys were friends in high school?" Tenten wondered, her anger at Ino for her previous comment evaporated, she looked over to Neji darkly. "I thought you didn't have any friends – because you know: considering of how much an ass you are." That stung the Hyuga's pride. Once again, Neji had inwardly winced at the insult, but two could play at that game.

"I never said we were friends." Neji replied coldly, as he furrowed his brow in memory. "I was lab partners with Shikamaru, and since Ino was his friend we saw each other a lot."

"I didn't expect you guys to go in a high school, considering that your part of a demon hunting scheme."

The Hyuga sighed to himself as he remembered the years back when he was still a senior. "The Akatsuki weren't going to let an idiot join them, so they made me a part-time hunter until I graduated. If it wasn't for my hunting responsibilities, I would've gone with Shikamaru to university."

"Sounds like you had it tough." Tenten stated sarcastically, looking out towards the distance and noticing a small station on the side of the road. "Hey Neji, could we take a break?"

Ino raised her head from the seat and looked at the station. "I think it seems a bit suspicious that only a petrol station would be there… I mean, where's the fast food places?"

"I've got to fill up the car anyways." Neji muttered slowly, glaring at the car as if it was to blame for running out of petrol. He turned the car into a park and neatly parked the car. "You guys can go in and get something to eat; I'll fill up the car."

"We were going to do that." Ino stated, jumping out of the car to pick up her purse. "You have fun filling up your car." She winked childishly and entered the store to get a snack, leaving Tenten alone with Neji.

"What about you, are you hungry?" Neji asked Tenten as he got out of the car and proceeded to fill up the car with petrol. The brunette shrugged in exhaustion and leaned into the chair, entertaining herself by tapping her fingers on her lap. He watched her repentantly for a few silent seconds, while Tenten pretended that she didn't notice. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know – I feel like I should be mad at you for the stuff you said." Tenten replied, avoiding his ivory orbs. Neji merely stared back at her, trying to find a proper way of apologising. If he was looking for an opportunity to apologise, now would be a considerable time for apologies. "But after you left all I could keep thinking was the fact that you're my friend, and I never regretted calling you one." Her eyes met his, making Neji's heart race in his chest, spotting the sorrowful emotions raging through her chestnut orbs.

"I thought it would've been safer if I went alone – it would've been easier for me to leave once I had rescued Hinata-sama." Neji replied, finding another way to apologise. He was sorry, but his pride wouldn't let him speak out the words. "I am aware that my actions were foolish, you are my partner Tenten – and I don't intend on leaving you until the end of this business."

The brunette sighed as she buried her face in her hands. "You got a crappy way of apologising Neji, you did a much better job last night." She let out a dry chuckle, but when she lifted her face she was smiling harmlessly. His breath got caught in his throat, his stomach got tighter with caution. "But I forgive you." She locked her chestnut orbs directly towards Neji with the smile still intact.

Neji was nervous, he wasn't sure on why but it irked him of the thought. His cheeks flooded up with heat as they turned a faint tint of red, knowing it was impossible to stop his body from doing such actions. He quickly jerked away from her unique eyes, almost cursing to himself under his breath while he waited for his cheeks to cool down. Just as they did, he pulled the hose from the car and stored it back in its original spot. He pulled his eyes out of the stare, suddenly finding the ground interesting. "I have to go to the bathroom." His feet managed to drag him out of Tenten's sight and he entered the men's room, taking in a deep breath.

What was going on with him? This was Hyuga Neji! He doesn't ever feel nervous and warm at the same time when he thought of someone. But it was Tenten, she had the striking chestnut orbs, the locks that were always put into two buns, she was strong willed and she was prepared to come up with a defence. Instantly Neji shook his head madly. Why was he even considering his own partner like this?

_Get a grip Neji, she's just a woman._ A voice cackled in his brain, making Neji exhale the shaky breath that he had been holding in. Though Tenten wasn't just any woman… she was… The sound of something unusual drew him back into reality. His brow furrowed into a confused line, and he looked around for the source of sound which reminded him of a –

"Don't move Hyuga." A deep unfamiliar voice growled, pressing the gun at the back of his head. Neji knew that he couldn't do anything but follow the man's orders. This stranger knew his name, and if Neji didn't know any better than he would assume that this man was hired to kill him.

"So who hired you?" Neji had asked calmly, as he raised his arms in surrender. Of course Neji wouldn't go down without a fight, but he needed the man to lower his guard. Mainly because the most he had was a pocket knife hidden in his pockets and it was time consuming to reveal the blade. He repressed a chilled shiver when the gun deepened on his skull, feeling cold metal gently graze his scalp.

"That's none of your fucking business. Now hurry up and get and get outside." The man pushed the gun into his head, making Neji walk along. He told himself to keep an eye out for Tenten or Ino, just in case this strange man would attempt to harm them. There wasn't any way that Neji was going to let them harm either girl.

They exited out of the rest rooms; the sun appeared to be glaring at both of them as they approached his car. When Neji felt the gun back away from his head, the Hyuga slowly turned around to stare at his attacker. "What's this all about?" For what Neji could see, this man in front of him was an ordinary human.

The man snarled as the grip on the gun tightened and rose to the centre of his forehead. "You were playing the game wrong Hyuga; they want you dead before you get too close." He spat with fury, his eyes had filled with nothing but rage as he held the gun.

Neji furrowed his brow in confusion. They? Did he speak of the demons? Well it was true that humans could sometimes be blackmailed into helping the monsters but would they really go that far? The Hyuga would've suspected that they would guess his arrival and let him walk into the palms of their hands. Alright. Plan's changed – no more stops. "It's my rules now." Neji softly muttered, making the man lower his gun in confusion.

His hands were swift, as he forced his fist to uppercut the gun out of the attacker's hands. The man had cried out in shock, but widened his eyes when he was suddenly decked across his face. Neji didn't waste any time into grabbing the gun as the stranger fell to the ground.

He whipped out the pistol and directly pointed it at the attacker. "Who the hell sent you?" The Hyuga questioned, slowly approaching the stranger his ivory orbs suddenly hardened due to the demon threatening to take over. Neji may have learned to control it over the years but it didn't mean that he could command it without difficulty. "Tell me!" His eyes pulsed out the anger, as he lashed at the guy with the handle of the gun.

The attacker groaned in pain, and looked back at Neji blankly as blood trailed from his lips. "Kill me. But I won't tell you anything about me – I work for them." He chuckled and spat out a mouthful of blood. "And besides, would you really shoot me when I have them?" Horror overcame Neji as he quickly turned to face Tenten and Ino, both of them being held back by two people each.

"Tenten…" Neji whispered weakly, watching as her eyes glowered back at him with fury.

"Hyuga Neji, don't you dare surrender! We need to save Naruto and Hinata!" Tenten snapped, trying to pull out of the vice grip but was hauled back. "Fight back!"

The Hyuga inwardly panicked – he wasn't Shikamaru who could figure out a plan in less than five minutes. Somehow he needed to force the guys to loosen their grips on the girls so they could fight them off. This gave the attacker an opportunity to strike Neji. He felt his fist contact his face and Neji fell to the ground as he clutched onto his face.

Horrid thoughts appeared in Neji's head, as he really considered letting his inner demon take over. Though he quickly denied it and shoved the thoughts in the back of his mind, hoping to lock them away. If the demon were to because unleashed, it could possibly harm Ino or Tenten and Neji wouldn't ever forgive himself if he laid a finger on them.

"Yep. We're dead." Ino complained bluntly as she tried to struggle out of the grip. "I'm going to kill Shikamaru when he dies…" She was worried about Neji, but if he didn't get his act together then they would all die.

Neji groaned and covered his eyes, growling deeply when he felt the gun escape his grip. "Who are you?"

"Shut up!" The man shouted, booting Neji's face violently. His body coiled back as he yelled out a painful grunt, his body was screaming at him to fight back. Ino managed to hold in a gasp, with widened eyes. These men weren't intending giving Neji a simple death – no, they wanted him to suffer before he would die.

Tenten's eyes widened with horror at the sudden attack as another kick was delivered to his stomach. _"Neji!" _She attempted to squirm out of the captor's grasp but it was much easier said than done.

"What should we do with the blondie and panda Mizuki-sama?" One of the men holding Tenten questioned, he didn't even acknowledge the fact that Tenten was squirming.

"Just hold them down idiot!" The man known as Mizuki commanded, reaching into Neji's pockets and pulling out his pocket knife. "This is nice… I would love to see your skin tear from this." He snickered, kicking Neji in the stomach again. Neji coughed out, as he buried his own face in the dirt. It was the only way that Neji prevented himself from vomiting.

"Neji!" Tenten shouted out again, her head whipped behind her to glare at the men who held her. "Let me go you bastards!" She cursed, trying to fight the grip. The men noticed that Tenten was starting to get serious with her writhing that one of the men pulled her arms into a lock. Her throat let out a yelp as the man held onto her arm excruciatingly. Neji moved his head just in sight to see Tenten whimper from the arm lock.

"Tenten…" He mumbled, making her catch his stare – he never wanted to see the fear in Tenten's eyes. Fear for his survival.

"Shut up panda, if you know what's good for you." The man holding her arm back sneered, making her snarl viciously. Mizuki delivered Neji another rough kick, and the Hyuga didn't respond as much as he had previously but he did clench his fist.

Neji winced as Mizuki forcibly grabbed his hair and pulled him back to face him. He felt like snarling, but Neji couldn't gain the strength to do so. His eyes narrowed when he noticed that the blade of his knife was digging into his skin of his forearm. At first it didn't hurt but as it sliced open the skin, he hissed out it pain when the attacker dragged it down to his wrist. He wanted the pain to be over, but could find himself screaming out in agony. Deep down Neji knew this pain would be nothing compared to his cursed seal. The blade was slowly pulled out, letting the blood sluggishly cover the rest of his arm.

It was bad enough that Neji was trying to fight the inner demon but knew it was over once the scarlet coloured blade poked his throat.

"It's nothing personal Hyuga." Neji closed his eyes and waited for his death, apologising to his father, uncle, Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru and Tenten.

_Tenten._

"Neji!" Her voice shrilled through the air, as he tried draining her voice from his head.

_**A/n: Oh boy, I suppose this is a pretty epic chapter ending to leave you guys hanging. Well any ways enjoy this chapter, the next one should be coming just before or just after graduation... I dunno.**_

_**Please review.**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. I know this chap is short, but I'm not trying to get this story too long... and not too short... because honestly, they drive me insane... partly because of a certain laptop... But I passed my English speech and my Legal Essay! Hurray! Not sure about maths but I'm pretty sure that was a pass too :D**_

_**Anyways!**_

_**Oh crackas... I'm graduating... I am actually going to finish school in a few days... A few years ago I would've just scoffed and thought of the possibilities but now... I'm actually really nervous - this puts a dent to my massive as ego... but on the bright note - at least you guys get more chapters from me! :D Okay, I shall continue with the story - Enjoy!**_

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 7~Inner desire**

Neji's eyes suddenly snapped opened at the sound of a horrified scream from Ino. He noticed that she wasn't being held by the men anymore, because they went to attack… Tenten?

The brunette that Neji had been so sure that was human didn't look so human at the moment. Her eyes were bright amber with her pupils slit, her once charming smile had morphed into the sight of a psychotic sneer and Neji was absolutely sure that her fingernails had extended to claws. She was standing above two limp bodies, while she was holding a half dead body which Neji quickly recognised at Mizuki.

"You dumbasses! Hurry up and kill her before she kills us!" Mizuki shouted with annoyance, his dark eyes had widened in complete fear as Tenten chuckled. Neji couldn't hear any innocence from her chuckle; it was dark – like it had waited for a long time. That's when Neji realised that she had one too – she was part demon, just like him. This was his first time witnessing someone lose control over the demon that wasn't himself.

"I wonder… if your blood would look better dragged across a road or painted on this ground for the whole world to see." Her grin widened as she choke slammed Mizuki into the ground. A strangled cough escaped his throat, and he lunged the pocket knife towards her for her to only catch it with her free hand. "Now, that wouldn't be very fun if you brought me into the game, I don't like to impose-"

"Don't kill him!" One of the men commanded, pointing his pistol towards Tenten. The other man slowly took out his gun and pointed it directly towards Tenten.

"No!" Ino screamed, tackling the closest man to her and took the weapon off him while he tried to recover. Her azure eyes leered at the man as she cocked the gun to his head and fired, letting his blood splat over her bright shirt. This lowered the guard of the other man, he had tried to fire at Ino when Tenten appeared behind him and slit his throat before he could so much blink.

"Ino get away from her! She has bloodlust!" Neji managed to warn, making Ino dive out of the way before Tenten got near. No, it wasn't Tenten. It was an inner demon, exactly like his. How long has this demon being repressed? Judging its excited expression it was its first time. His demon had been crazy when it first unleashed itself into the society. The last thing he remembered was recovering his wounds and then he woke up covered in human blood. It took Neji years to get at the position he was in now.

Tenten had snarled towards Ino, threatening to attack her when she had heard a faint moan. Her brow furrowed into a snarl as her head whirled to the direction of Mizuki, who had just gotten up and threatened to shoot at her with a gun that one of the men dropped. Her snarl turned into a sneer, and she snickered under her breath as she approached Mizuki, whose eyes widened at the sudden attention. It wasn't a good sign at all.

Finally Neji mustered up the courage he needed, pushing himself from the ground and onto his feet. "Tenten! I know you can hear me!" She continued to approach Mizuki, who seemed to have just realised that he had no bullets in his weapon to defend himself. Neji just couldn't let Tenten go, she can't go too far. "Tenten! Snap out of it!" Still no response, as Tenten started to chuckle with the blade glinting Neji's eyes, it was hopeless – Tenten wouldn't snap out of it until her guard was at its lowest.

"Scarlet is such a pretty colour? Don't you agree?" She buried the knife into Mizuki's chest, making him gasp in shock. As she heard Mizuki's cries of pain, she only laughed with a disturbing tone which merely made Neji bite his own lip in frustration.

"Tenten _please_!" He begged through his outburst, only this time he managed to catch the attention of his partner. Ino covered her mouth, and desperately wanted to save her friend but Ino knew clearly that she had to stay back in order to be safe. Tenten's eyes darkened into their original chestnut, as he claws and fangs vanished with her dark look, they only went wide with disgust when she realised what she was holding and stabbing into. Mizuki only fell to the ground as she backed away and looked at her own hands, the hands that were stained with crimson liquid.

"Neji? Ino? Wha?" Tenten was confused, just like Neji was when he witnessed his first possession. Fighting a demon was no fun and games, it could lead into serious deaths. Her eyes started to clog with tears, and she started to take deeper breaths. "I killed them…" The pieces linked together for her. Fortunately, Neji was already behind her and he wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed.

"It's okay Tenten…" Neji tried to support, tightening his grip on the brunette when she sobbed harder. She simply responded by wrapping her arms around Neji's neck and soaked his shirt with her tears as her breaths became irregular. "You'll be okay, we'll be okay." The scent of blood filled his nostrils; he couldn't get rid of the smell even if he had focused on another strong scent. He raised his head, feeling sorry for Ino who seemed a bit stunned from the events. "Ino, go get some food and drive us to Konoha."

Apparently the blonde had heard the best idea of the day because she swiftly moved into the store to get her stuff out. Neji lifted Tenten's body as her grip tightened around him as he placed her in the back of the car.

"What happened to me?" She had asked in a low voice, slowly letting go of him. The Hyuga couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed at the loss of contact but he discharged the consideration.

Neji didn't want to lie to Tenten. He hated lying to the society in general let alone to his own partner. "It turns out you are a demon hybrid." _Like me…_ A voice quietly added in his head and Neji decided to keep his mouth shut. It was rare for an inner demon to show up after twenty years, so it surprised Neji when he discovered that Tenten had been hiding a demon all her life. "That's why your friend was taken… they're used as bait to lure us in."

"So Naruto was taken… because of me?" When Tenten raised her head, her chestnut orbs were filled with guilt and self-hatred. "Why didn't they just take me?! Why did they have to hurt so many innocent people?!" She was suddenly yelling, most of it was the aftershock of her revelation. For once Neji didn't have an answer for her, and silently stared at her. It had been the same question Neji had been asking his whole life. He was about to hop on the passenger side of the car when Tenten suddenly reached out, clutching onto his injured arm. "Sorry…" She released Neji's arm, and locked eyes with him. "Could you stay at the back with me? I'll fix the wound while we arrive to Konoha."

Neji could've said no, but he couldn't – more like he didn't want to. "Sure." When he heard Ino leave the store with two bags full of junk, Neji rolled his eyes and sat in the back with Tenten.

"It turns out; the guy was dead before we came here." Ino piped, earning a glare from the other two as she entered the car and started it. "I did pay for it! I just threw the money on the counter." Tenten pulled out the first aid kit from under the seat and began observing the wound.

"Strange. I thought you would've needed stitches." She muttered as she dabbed the alcohol on the wound, muttering an apology whenever Neji would flinch.

"Demon hybrids tend to heal fast." Neji replied, and then he realised what he had said. "I mean-"

"Don't worry about it Neji, I would just have to get over it like everything else." The brunette replied, flashing a small grin as if she didn't have a breakdown before. "I appreciate you helping me out, even if I had been such a bitch." Her eyes locked with his again and Neji felt something heating his cheeks.

Was he getting sick? Or was he just… Neji wasn't so sure anymore. Suddenly a unique song went off, making Ino squeal with delight, but picked up the phone to answer.

"You know Ino, driving while talking on a phone is illegal." Neji noted, making Ino poke her tongue childishly at him. He had forgotten how crazy the blonde woman was when it came to driving and phones, but his arm was still healing and Tenten was distraught – she was the only one that didn't get hurt, only a bit of blood on her shirt.

"Shika?" Ino frowned through the other side of the phone. Neji's head rose at the mention of Ino's husband. Shikamaru was meant to be contacting him if he had found anything based on Orochimaru, in which he probably still needed if he needed to save both Naruto and Hinata. "Yeah – we just left that station, and we were ambushed by some group of people that were meant to kill us." The Hyuga could just hear the muffled response from Shikamaru as he retorted. "Uh huh… Alright, I'll see you soon – I love you." Another subdued comment and Ino hung up the phone. Her bright blue orbs took a glance at the mirror. "Hey guys, Shikamaru just said that we should meet him at the _Kasai_ _Inn._"

"Wait… isn't that where Yagana works?" Tenten piped up as she tilted her head while Neji furrowed his brow deeply. Who was this Yagana? How many friends did Tenten befriend before meeting him?

"Yep! Neji, you'll love her!" Ino assured, grinning widely in excitement. "We should reach that Inn in probably… ten minutes or so… if we stick to the speed limit."

"_Ino…_"Both Neji and Tenten warned with dark glares while Ino rolled her eyes.

"You guys are so boring! I was just kidding!" She chuckled, letting her blonde hair race with the wind. "Neji, could I have this car after you've saved your cousin?"

"No."

The blonde haired girl pouted, and briefly glared at him through the mirror. "Meanie."

"Hn."

"One day I'm going to shove a rat down your throat – then let's see who says _hn_." Ino glared at the road, mocking Neji's little grunts while Neji looked towards Tenten.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly, his eyes lingered to her lips before he realised where he was looking and stared his bandaged arm.

Tenten raised her eyes to him, and tried to smile but utterly failed. She sighed in annoyance – mostly to herself as she looked at her feet. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't let something bother me like this. I hunt monsters for a living! This should be nothing!"

Neji frowned and removed a strand of hair hanging from her face. "Having an inner demon take over you is not 'nothing'; you can go through some weird experiences. It could drive one person crazy if they aren't careful."

"But Neji." Tenten gave a simple look towards Ino and back at him, her chest tinted pink as her touched her face. "I wanted to see the blood; doesn't that make me a monster too? Though I didn't know what was going on, I felt like I was the happiest person on earth after killing those people."

"I feel that too Tenten." He muttered; pulling his hand away and staring at a flock of birds in the sky. If only Neji could be a bird…

"How do you cope with that dark feeling chilling your spine? With the idea that you could snap any minute?" The brunette questioned, hopefully loud enough for him to hear. Luckily for her, he did hear and he gladly answered.

"I don't know, though the demon doesn't come out as much with me because I gained some control over it." It was no lie. He felt it more when he killed something in general but his darker side had a tendency to like the thoughts of death. Because of that, he had no choice but to enjoy it – because in those moments of bloodlust, he felt like nothing else existed for him.

"Damn it, why don't you two get over your drama and kiss already?" Ino snapped, interrupting the duo and making them back away.

Neji gave a glare out to the distance, attempting to hide his red cheeks while Tenten bluntly glared at Ino. It was obvious that she didn't like to be picked on when it came to boys. "You should really watch what you should say Miss Piggy!" Tenten snapped, making Ino slowly turn around with a maniacal grin on her face.

"You wanna say that again?" The blonde hissed, while the two in the back seat began to panic at the sight. Neji had widened his eyes in horror. He knew he should've just driven instead; it would've at least saved their lives.

"Ino turn around and look at the road!" Tenten cried out in horror.

"This woman is going to be the death of us!"

**-:-**

"Are they here yet?"

"No."

"… Are they… here now?"

Sigh. "No Yagana, so just wait."

The mentioned girl pouted as she pulled her messy strands of hair behind her ears. "Shikamaru… you are a killjoy."

Shikamaru gave the girl a look, as if he was questioning her sanity or his own. It was official that he was insane with hanging out with this troublesome woman. "Don't worry, they should be here soon."

"Shikamaru, you do realise I have a life out of this Inn?!" Yagana stated, folding her arms and giving her companion a frown. "You and your buddies are just taking all the time I had in the world." She sighed and took a seat next to him, pushing her glasses up her nose once she felt them slipping.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket.

"Your face is troublesome, yet you don't hear me complain about it." The Innkeeper responded with a heated glare, just before she noticed on what Shikamaru was intending on. "Woah – pineapple boy, you know better than to smoke in this place, get out of here!" She shoved Shikamaru but he didn't budge, making her stand up and walk behind the counter to pick up a certain object.

Shikamaru certainly saw what she was about to grab because he was rushing out of the door. "I'm going! Sheesh, you crazy lady! You've got to see a shrink." That was when Yagana declared that he moved pretty quickly for a lazy boy.

The genius lit up his cigarette and let the smoke hover the air. He was naturally worried about Ino and the rest of the group. If they were only recently ambushed then they would have more trouble than he expected. His original place was for them to meet at Konoha but it was because he suddenly heard of the news that they had been ambushed that he found himself telling them to get to the Kasai Inn. Yagana wasn't too happy in waiting for the group, she hated it when plans changed at the last minute but she was willing to let them come either way.

Shikamaru needed to come up with a plan shortly, because if he didn't – Neji won't save his cousin, Tenten won't be able to save her friend and none of them would make it out of the fight alive. It was up to him to come up with three differently plans, more in case they all fail.

"Troublesome, I'm so going to retire after all of this crap." He decided, his brow furrowed when he saw a light blue car approaching the inn and that car had a woman that look exactly like Ino in the driver's seat. The genius nodded to himself in approval. "Yep. Definitely retiring soon."

_**A/n: And I've finally caught up to the part that my first idea came from. There ya have it, Tenten was a hybrid demon after all muhahaha ... but I'm sure you guys would've suspected something along those lines... right? Ah... oh well. My whole idea of an inner demon comes from my original story Reflection Of Fire, where the main character has a darker counterpart and pretty much goes on bloodlust... Their pupils go into slits with unique coloured eyes, they get claws and fangs and they pretty much sound crazy. **_

_**...**_

_**I just realised - I'm going to schoolies (truthfully, I'm not allowed to go, so I'm just going to stay over my cousin's house and play video games all day) so I won't post anything next week, but in order to make that up to you guys, I shall work harder and get two chapters done, that's a promise.**_

_**Please review.**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. **_

_**Do I ever tell you guys that you are awesome? If I haven't then, I am here to let you know that you beat me in awesomeness... I didn't think that was possible... Every review, follow or favour counts... even just reading the story makes me glad that someone is taking their time off to read my story :D**_

_**Changing the topic now**_

_**Personally, it feels weird not having an idea what to do next year. I really hope that I can enrol in my TAFE courses because if I don't... well volunteer work would be good but I have to thank whoever is up there because my niece had kicked the laptop off the bed. Somehow my usb literally shattered but the drive was still intact. When I checked to see if the chaps were on, nothing had been corrupted... thankfully. **_

**_Just to let everyone know that I'm one of those people who don't back up their things... Well every blue moon..._**

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 8~ The deeper Story**

"Ino, slow down!" Tenten desperately shouted, clutching on the stiff Neji for support. His face turned bright red, so he tried to distract himself by making sure that his seat belt was on. They forcibly shut their eyes once they saw Ino pick up the speed, praying that they wouldn't die before they get to the inn.

Neji had been so distracted by keeping his eyes shut and thoughts away from Tenten that he jerked when the car screeched into a stop. After waiting a few moments, Neji assumed that they had ended up dead. He peeked one silvery orb open to see Tenten still clutching onto him.

"Tenten." The mentioned brunette looked up and stared at Neji silently, as if she was still trying to figure things out. "You're on me, get off." He coldly stated, making Tenten let go immediately. Neji didn't want to talk to Tenten like he had with everyone else, but remaining cold was the only thing that he was good at nowadays – well it seemed that way.

"Woo hoo! We're alive!" Ino cheered, raising her arms in the air and wriggled them as if she didn't have a single care in the world. Neji had realised that he had been holding his breath and exhaled, his body relaxed with him. Tenten on the other hand bonked Ino's head roughly. "Ow! Tennie what was that fore?"

"You're insane." A familiar voice spoke up making Neji raise his eyebrows at the new figure. He stood next to the car, smirking at the group. "For letting Ino drive."

"Shikamaru." Neji nodded in acknowledgment, while Ino had awkwardly hugged him from her spot in the care. Then she noticed that her own husband had insulted her. Ino pulled away and folded her arms as she glowered at Shikamaru.

"What's wrong with my driving?!" She questioned with hard eyes. Neji was about to open his mouth to answer when the blonde turned around with a death glare that rivalled his. "Don't. Say. Anything. Hyuga." He shut his mouth instantly, making Tenten lightly chuckle at Neji. His eyes glanced over to her, questioning her silently when she met his eyes. A scowl appeared on Neji's face as he quickly turned away from her. Just looking at her eyes made his gut twist nervously and Neji didn't even know how that worked.

After for what seemed an eternity of Ino's ranting that she could drive, Shikamaru opened the door for Ino. "Come on in." The genius insisted, making Ino take off her belt and gently peck Shikamaru's cheek as she entered in the building. Instead of rushing out himself, Neji let Tenten go first with a slow nod. Tenten muttered a small thank you, just as she hopped out of the car, followed in by Neji.

Neji watched the Inn building as he approached the decent sized building. It looked slightly inviting, and it wasn't too fancy but by judging the poor condition of the roof, there hadn't been too many customers to stay. As he entered the room Neji took his time into observing the building, it was completely dark with only a faint candle light showing two bright reflections.

"It's 'bout damn time." The tomboyish voice groaned as she flicked the switch and revealed her true appearance. She had olive skin, a short but built figure, wild brown hair that was just able to be tied up in a ponytail with bangs framing her round face, with dark coffee eyes behind rectangular framed glasses. "I thought you girls wouldn't have shown up!"

Neji was about to declare that he was not female when Ino wrapped her arms around the stranger, squeezing the life out of the stranger. He concealed the smirk from appearing on his face. The girl deserved it.

"Yagana-chan! I haven't seen you in ages!" Ino squealed, while the girl started to growl in annoyance.

"Ino – get off me you madwoman!" The suddenly angry girl tried to push her off, but Ino had stuck onto her like glue. She grinned widely, and eventually let go making Yagana growl again under her breath.

"Sheesh, you're such a pain – this is why I like Tenten more." Yagana stated, walking towards the bun haired woman and smiling calmly. "Heyo Tenten, it's been what? Five years?"

"Five years." Tenten retorted with a laugh, replying with a similar smile. "Hey Yagana, this is my partner Hyuga Neji."

Neji had stiffened when he heard his own name, looking down at the girl and noticing her face held a bit more maturity in it. He could only assume that she was older, even if he was much taller than she was. They shook hands calmly, and Neji forced himself to look the girl in the eyes. Her dark eyes twinkled in delight when her gaze pierced Neji's and she turned back to Tenten.

"Nice! Tsuri Yagana approves!" The short brunette snickered, laughing louder at the colour of Tenten's pink face. "I'm kidding Tennie, I know what you mean by partner sheesh – anyways nice to meet you Neji." Her voice held the honesty as she turned away from the group and went behind her counter. "So, how can I help everyone today?"

"We need to book two rooms to stay in for the next few days." Shikamaru declared, making Yagana nod silently as she typed into the computer. Neji inwardly snorted, it wasn't like that the girl needed it to type in a few reservations.

"'Cause I'm a nice person, I'll give you the closest rooms for free." She threw the key cards to Shikamaru and Neji. The Hyuga managed to catch his key card while Shikamaru didn't even realise that something was being thrown at him until it hit him in the face. He scowled and grumbled angrily as he picked up the key card, making Yagana laugh at him with a mean tone. "Oh yeah, are you doing anything this evening?"

"What time?" Shikamaru retorted, shoving the key card in his pocket.

"Sometime bout six…"

"We shouldn't be doing anything." Shikamaru glanced over to the rest of the group, who shrugged lazily in reply. "Why? What's going on?"

"Just another entertainment night." Yagana replied, lazily waving her hand towards him. "All of you should meet me down here at that time."

"Whatever." The Nara headed in a hallway with Ino while Neji followed along with them, his ivory orbs quickly flashing towards Yagana who had a wide idiotic grin on her face. Neji looked back to Tenten, who seemed to be fairly distracted with her eyes dropping every few moments. He couldn't blame her for being exhausted, after all – she had been awake the entire time since the demon incident, and it wouldn't surprise Neji if she just fell asleep on him. Not that he would've minded her sleeping on him – a sudden halt came to his senses. It was dangerous territory; it made him feel feverish and nervous. Neji could never deny that it was an obvious weakness that he needed to overcome.

"So, any reason why you wanted to meet us here Shika?" Ino's voice snapped Neji out of his thoughts, making him look back at Shikamaru with an agreeable frown. Tenten managed to raise her head and wait for Shikamaru as he opened the door to his room to invite everyone in. It had boring white walls, but it was sustainable for the next few days, a large green curtain covered the window with a bench on one side of the room with an armchair and a double queen bed on the other. The group silently walked in the room and took a seat: Ino on the arm chair, Shikamaru sat on the bed, Tenten leaned on the bench while Neji remained standing with his arms folded.

Silence enveloped on them as the group stared directly at Shikamaru, silently ordering him to hurry up and explain the situation.

"Troublesome." He sighed after a minute of staring, rubbing his forehead in irritation. "Before I say anything, I just need to ask if you knew anything about those guys at the station."

"Something about that guy who beat up Neji." Ino muttered to herself in deep thought, Neji frowned when he saw Tenten tense up at the memories. "His name was something like Miku or something."

"Mizuki." Neji spat, his eyes hardening as he felt his ego bruise. "He was the guy that was blackmailed by the demons to go out and kill me, but…" His eyes skimmed over to Tenten, who stared at the floor. "The men were taken care of." It was a harsh reality that Tenten had to accept, even if it was possibly one of the worst things that one could go through. But accepting a harsh reality was not easy, sometimes Neji believes that his entire life had been one nightmare and he would wake up being the four year old again.

"Not blackmailed – _sent_." Shikamaru corrected with a groan, making the group look towards him warily. "And those guys weren't sent by demons…" He trailed off; at the same time Neji widened his eyes in surprise. If it weren't demons then…

"Who would've wanted to kill me?" Neji snapped, removing his arms as he glared at Shikamaru. "No one knew about my movements! Except for the demons and…" The answer hit him so quickly that he couldn't even blink.

"And the Akatsuki." Shikamaru finished, his eyes hardened as Neji backed away. "I was in Asuma's hideout, looking for cases of Orochimaru just in case you were right…"

***Flashback***

_Troublesome._ The Nara thought, reading through piles of more books. For four months, he hadn't seen his wife, four months that he hasn't find a single clue to Orochimaru. He should've known it was a lost cause. "Damn it Hyuga!" After all this time, Shikamaru snapped; and it wasn't every day when the lazy genius would snap – he threw the one book in the book case in front of him, making a small glass figure fall to the ground, shattering upon collision. "Damn." Shikamaru repeated quietly, as he went to the broken figure to clean up his mess. As he picked up on the shards, a red reflection from the shards made Shikamaru glance at the book in front of him.

Something drew Shikamaru to the book, so he slowly pulled it out of the shelf and flicked through the pages, recognising the same messy handwriting as his godfather's. It was a journal. Shikamaru furrowed his brow as he read the first few words.

_I have finally proposed to the love of my life, __Yuhi Kurena –_

This was in the same year of Asuma's death. He had proposed to her a few months before his death, but he told the woman that he had to go on a life risking mission in which led up to Shikamaru finding him in the streets, dead. Shikamaru flicked through a few more pages, his dark eyes kept looking for the last entry.

_They're scums. The Akatsuki weren't intending for the monsters to get vanquished from the world, they weren't even looking for a way to seal them. Their intentions were to lure the pure demons into our world, so they could be captured and have their energy drain. Once their energy is drain, demons lose all of their powers and they turn human, which was how Orochimaru became demon in the first place._

The genius furrowed his brow at the thought. At least he found out that the rumours said about Orochimaru were true.

_They wanted to use hybrids like Neji to kill the monsters so it could trap them into the human world. The Akatsuki knew where the demon realm had been all along, they chose to keep it from Neji so that once he was strong enough, the pure demons could hunt after him however – if I manage to tell Neji their plan, then they would either kill Neji or he would lose control of his demon and kill everyone in sight. I can't have that, but it seems like I don't have a choice. _

***Present***

Neji's fist tightened furiously, and a growl rumbled from his throat. So Asuma had died because he found out everything? But why were they still trying to kill him? Was it because he was starting the get on their trail? And why did Itachi tell him where Hinata was when they could've killed him back in the city? For less attention? Or worse, did they assume that Neji knew about everything after Shikamaru left? Giving him a partner so that they could watch his movements? He looked over to Tenten, who seemed just as blown as he was.

"Neji, don't let it get to you." Ino warned, standing up from her armchair with hardened eyes. "We'll figure this out."

"My cousin could've been saved this entire time! They just played her like a fucking puppet!" The Hyuga slammed his fist on the bench making the group flinch at his words. "All for the sake of fucking power!" He punched the bench again, with only more fury which earned a slamming knock from the door.

_"Oi! Those benches aren't cheap!"_ Yagana shouted through the other side of the door. _"And I'll boot your asses into the ground if you keep doing it!"_

"You better listen to her Neji." Shikamaru warned with a tiny smirk. "She'll do it, even if she had her arms tied behind her back." It was enough to calm him down, and he took an exhausted sigh. "Alright then, you and Tenten can keep this room while we're in your room." He decided, giving his key card in return for Neji's. "We'll come back to meet Yagana tonight." The couple exited the room, forcing the silence to rain down on them again.

Neji only groaned in exhaustion and ran fingers through his hair, momentarily forgetting that Tenten was there. She had been silent for the entire time, either letting the recent information sink in or trying to find a way to calmly speak to Neji. Tenten silently walked to the bed and laid down on it, while Neji raised an eyebrow as she patted the spot beside her. He seemed hesitant at first – Neji hadn't ever lain in the same bed as her but he complied with her wishes and stretched his limbs as he lay down.

"They won't get away with this Neji." Tenten managed to whisper her promise, her eyes started to blink slower as the exhaustion got the best of her. "And I'll be right here, fighting with you too."

Neji couldn't fight the smile forming on his face. "I know." He couldn't help but shiver when Tenten's breath hit his skin, the feeling was pleasant to him. His eyes softened when her chestnut orbs closed for the final time, letting herself fall into a peaceful slumber. Why did she draw so much attention to him? Not even he could figure out his own questions, and people called him smart. Unconsciously, Tenten wrapped her fingers around Neji's hands, sending another pleasant chill up his spine.

It wasn't long until Neji's eyes grew heavy on him. For him it had been a long day as well, and with Tenten next to him… falling asleep never sounded any better.

…

_"Yo Neji! Tenten!"_

Neji snorted, wiping the drool slight from his face with a faint blush. He wasn't use to people waking him up, that's why he would've glared at Tenten whenever she jumped into his room while he was sleeping.

Tenten sleepily opened her eyes and groaned quietly. "Neji? Is it six already?"

"I don't know-" He was interrupted by a loud banging knock from the other end of the door. "Yes… I guess it is." The brunette groaned in exhaustion, and laid her head back on the pillow. As she tried to bury her face in her pillow, Neji couldn't help but once again think that Tenten looked adorable.

"I don't wanna go and watch some dumb entertainment." She complained dully, acting as if she was going to blend in with the pillows.

"You don't have to." Neji replied, rubbing his eyes and sitting up from the bed. He couldn't believe that he managed to sleep on the same bed as Tenten and not panic about it. "I'll just tell her that you're exhausted."

"What about you?"

"I'm fine, I only needed a nap." The Hyuga replied approaching the door with caution and quickly changing into a white shirt. She frowned at first, before shrugging quietly to herself and fell asleep. When he did swing it open, Yagana didn't look too happy waiting at the door.

"What took you guys so long?" She barked as her brow furrowed into a nasty glare. "I swear, you guys are slower than my brother – and he's an idiot!"

"Tenten's exhausted, and she needs the sleep so she won't be joining us tonight." Neji explained, narrowing his eyes with suspicion when he noticed that wore a baggy grey shirt and black trousers. Her hair had been tied into a single bun, with her glasses slowly sliding down her nose – if she hadn't told him that she was going to show them some entertainment, he would've guessed that she was going to do something physical. "But I will join you."

"Damn, you're annoying." Yagana joked, but Neji did not take it lightly. He simply glared at her while she cackled under her breath. "Sheesh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Come with me." She walked to the front reception with Neji silently following. Shikamaru and Ino were already waiting, both of them dressed up neatly for the entertainment. The brunette went around the counter, frowning at the choice of clothing by Ino and Shikamaru. Ino had worn a purple tee-shirt; possibly a new shirt with black tights while Shikamaru wore a casual white shirt and classic jeans.

"What's wrong?" Ino finally asked, furrowing her brow in confusion. Neji didn't blame her for Ino's questioning but was more confused when Yagana had given her a raised eyebrow towards the clothes.

"You guys got any guns?" Yagana questioned looking over to the group. They all shook their heads at the response, even Neji though he had a bag full of guns in the car that he hasn't touched since the beginning of the trip. "What kind of travellers are you?" She muttered under her breath as she searched for the something underneath the counter. Neji realised that this girl had a lot of things under that counter of hers.

When she raised her head again, she threw three handguns towards them. They all cried out in horror and let the weapons drop to the ground before it randomly fired off. When nothing happened, they relaxed but sent a glare to the Innkeeper.

"Yagana!" Ino scolded with a red face. "What the heck was that?"

"I was just passing the gun, no biggie." Yagana retorted, while Neji gave her a stupid look. Was she really that dull?

"That's dangerous you crazy woman!" Shikamaru snapped back, his patience level easily crossed. "What kind of lunatic throws guns around?!" Neji was only standing a few centimetres from the gun; Yagana was so lucky that it didn't fire off.

"Oh that." Yagana chuckled, as the group sent her another dark glare. "There are no bullets in them; I take them out before putting them away for safety precautions."

Ino gave Yagana an uncertain look, but picked up her gun to check if the ammo was loaded. The barrels were empty. She nodded shakily towards them, to indicate that Yagana was telling the truth when they picked up their guns. Neji jumped when the box of bullets bounced into his hands.

"You guys are so jumpy, load your guns." The brunette ordered with a wide grin. "We're heading out to entertainment!"

Shikamaru sighed in realisation, shaking his head with a smirk. "I forgot that you had these sessions, I would've guessed that you stopped." It wasn't long until Ino realised Yagana's intentions. Now Neji was the only clueless soul of the group.

Yagana snorted with a cocky grin as she pushed her glasses up her nose. "Bitch, please – I would never forget my favourite activity of the day." She pulled out a double barrel shotgun, grinning enthusiastically. "Alright Shika, you go with Ino and I'll stick with Neji."

Neji furrowed his brow as his two acquaintances decided to ditch him with the madwoman. She managed to grab onto Neji's arm and drag him through the back door, leading him into a forest themed area. It was nearly silent, except for the crickets that buzzed through the night.

"Where the heck are we?" the Hyuga questioned, raising an eyebrow and loaded his gun. He didn't like the creepy feeling that hovered over him.

"This is considered entertainment for me, because I don't have anything to do back at the Inn." Yagana clarified with a wide smirk. "At six o'clock of a nice evening, they come out."

"What comes out?"

A moan came from the bushes, and Neji prepared his gun just as a loud shot went off. He looked towards Yagana who had smirked, holding the shotgun calmly in the direction of the moan. "It's open season for zombies." As if it was a cue, another distant moan made Neji automatically fire three times in the direction. The thump indicated that he killed the zombie and Yagana chuckled to herself as she fired off at the sound of a moan.

"You do this, everyday?" Neji gave a look towards the violent tomboy.

"Of course, the customers intend on coming here – but apparently a rare virus affects the humans with weaker immune systems surrounds Konoha, they obviously weaken and that's when the zombies decide to snack. Some people escape, but with injuries – then turn into zombies themselves and come in my direction because I'm the closest flesh to them. Now can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." Neji replied rather smugly.

"Ha, ha – I didn't expect you to have humour." Yagana replied sarcastically. She used her middle finger to raise her glasses again, and wiped the sweat forming on her forehead. "Do you love Tenten?"

The Hyuga froze; he felt his insides wanting to explode. Was that why he felt so confused around her? Because he had grown some feelings for his partner? "I don't think so." He replied shortly, before he fired off at another zombie.

Yagana stopped shooting and gently smiled at Neji. "I saw how you looked at her – it was the same way I use to look at Lee."

Neji recognised the name and turned to her with a questioning stare. "Lee? As in Tenten's friend that she had to shoot?"

She lowered her eyes and bit the inside of her cheek. "So that's how he died, huh." Her dark eyes gazed over to Neji; he saw how upset she must be feeling from the very start. All along she knew Lee didn't make it, but didn't question it because it hurt her so much.

"He was possessed, and he would've killed Tenten." Neji immediately defended, hoping that the brunette wouldn't go crazy on Tenten. "Tenten regrets it every second of her life."

"I understand. Lee would've done it if he were in her shoes." Yagana responded with a faint smile as she stared at the sky above her. She took one look at Neji, and her smile slightly widened. "Take it from me, a natural Cancer* and a woman who brought together Shikamaru and Ino. You seem to be the cold and loner type, but you're not that guy whenever Tenten is around. Somehow it's as if you are… sweeter and you would do anything for her." Neji gave a confused look at Yagana, her eyes held in determination – the same determination as Tenten. "When it's real – you can't walk away."

The Hyuga furrowed his brow when he watched the girl in front of him. He wasn't sure of his own feelings, but… Neji hadn't ever experienced love before.

"Come on Romeo, we should head back." She interrupted with a grin, which shrank into a calm smile. "But don't wait too long."

_**A/n: And the chapter is here my friends! I was pretty much flying with this chap, and I've nearly finished the next chapter as I've promised. When I was hanging out with my cousin, we pretty much played Super Smash Brawl and lots of Pokemon... I started Platinum on Wednesday and I've nearly finished the game... **_

_**I'm just a video game freak**_

_**...**_

**_Oh yeah, Yagana as you may know... is an OC - a bit tomboyish with a soft spot for romance. I know some people don't like Oc's but personally, I enjoy reading a good old OC depending on how developed they are and truthfully I couldn't find a character perfect for this sort of role since I've already planned where I put Sakura... yeah... _**

**_I'm quite busy on the next three days... I've got to slap the hell out of some woman who doesn't believe that I didn't pay for my Certificate course when I did... Grr... stressful woman... and my old boss wants me to work for her again for the Christmas holidays... truthfully, I want to go back to work so I can get money to help my mum out because she's not working._**

**_*Cancer - I'm sort of a Horoscopes believer... I'm also a Cancer and most of my personality is based on the star sign... which I think is pretty creepy_**

_**Please review.**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. **_

**_Wow... I feel exhausted and the sad part is that it had nothing to do with school. I was just walking around my area handing out resumes, fixing up files and loaning a book to one of my friends... All before shaving my thick haired Border Collie (Inwardly curse thick fur) :) But I finished this chap quite easily. But man... I had to wait until twelve in the morning to get be able to post this chap?! Gr... at least I'm not that tired anyways... _**

**_Onwards to the chapter!_**

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 9~ Onwards**

_"But don't wait too long."_

The final words said by Yagana repeated for hours in Neji's head. He was lying on the bed, staring at the plain ceiling above him next to an unconscious Tenten as he thought of the Innkeeper's final words to him the evening before. It had been long ago when Neji gave up the sleep, though his body and mind lacked the energy for him to think. He shouldn't have had the nap the day before.

_What did she mean?_ The woman had obviously referred to Ino and Shikamaru the previous evening… right? Don't wait for them too long to figure everything out? What would that mean anyways? He shook his head in denial. To him, Neji felt as if Yagana's message had a deeper meaning to it. Tenten mumbled something in her sleep, making Neji quickly assume that she was awake but sighed in relief when she snuggled deeper into the pillow.

She was cute; Neji had to give Tenten that. Just one innocent look from her chocolate coloured irises made Neji get all nervous and feverish. Was that how love felt like? Neji felt confused, groaning silently as he pulled off the bandana around his forehead, revealing the cursive green mark. The damn thing just got too annoying sometimes. He remembered when he forced Tenten to hold the gun to his head, ordering her to shoot him – and she declared that she would never shoot him… because he was her friend…

Tenten was crossing the same path that he had crossed many years ago, so she knew what it was like for him to be…

"Alone…" He whispered to himself out loud. It all dawned on him instantly; Neji was in love with this girl. The brave, innocent, star-gazing girl that he had to train – he fell in love with. It was as if the fate was against him, making him fall in love with her after everything they have been through. Tenten softly shivered and slowly shuffled her body closer to him, Neji stiffened nervously as her head curled on his chest and her arm wrapped around his figure. His heart pounded frantically, shivering to himself when her breathe tickled his skin. He raised his eyes and noticed the buns – those buns he had gotten so used to seeing, were threatening to come out into chocolate locks.

Something made his arm rise up to the closest bun, pulling the weak hair tie out and he let her dark hair form into smooth curls. The Hyuga didn't bother fighting a smile as he reached out for the other bun, letting it fall gently onto her shoulders. She wriggled closer to Neji, if it was even possible and her slumber deepened as she relaxed in Neji's hold.

Neji wrapped his arms around Tenten, as if he wanted to shield her from the harshness of reality. "Don't worry Tenten, we will save them together." He swore, gently pressing his lips on her head and went back to staring at the ceiling before complete darkness overtook him.

There was nothing worse than to not expect a high pitch scream in your ears. Well that was how poor Neji had felt as soon as he shut his eyes. He snapped opened his eyes in shock, jumping out of his skin and falling off the bed in response, which ended up as a huge thump.

"What?" Neji snapped, clearly annoyed at Tenten who was still trying to catch her breath for screaming on top of her lungs and making him fall off the bed. His back ached and he hit his head quite roughly.

"I was… I was…" Tenten was stammering, Neji hadn't ever seen the brunette stammer! "Cuddling you. It just scared me…" She looked towards the ground with a faint blush of embarrassment. He groaned at his pain, but paused when he noticed the light in the room. It was morning already?

But Neji still wasn't happy that he got suddenly woken up, checking the time based on the sun. Right now, Neji didn't care that he loved Tenten – he was worried for a moment that the group had gotten ambushed again. His anger quickly evaporated at the sight of her red cheeks and he sighed in exhaustion, "It's seven, we should eat some breakfast."

"But-! Aren't we going to talk about this?" Tenten gestured to herself and him.

"There's nothing to get worked up about." Neji replied calmly, pushing himself off the floor and onto his feet. Though on the inside of his mind, chibi Neji's were running around and going to the point of insanity. "It's not like we were naked or anything."

Once again, Tenten's cheeks went red. "Whatever, fine – I was just trying to help!" She ran a hand through her hair, combing out the loose knots before tying it up on a lazy ponytail. With a grumble, Tenten stormed out of the room and slammed it shut behind her.

Neji sighed again, and followed her out with a faint smirk. How did Neji have a life before he met her? Oh wait… he didn't have a life; it was only full of hunting underworld monsters. As he reached the door handle, an omen began to creep up his chest. He certainly hadn't felt this strange since Asuma's final mission.

"Tenten!" The Hyuga panicked in revulsion and pushed open the door, as he ran into the reception room, the sight made his ivory orbs widened in recognition. "You."

"Don't move, pretty bastard." Neji recognised the figure with silver hair slicked back, and unforgettable purple eyes, wearing the cloak of ebony and crimson. "Or I'll fucken sacrifice the panda-chick!" The figure lowered his scythe to the trapped Tenten's throat, as she hissed in fury.

"Let go of me you lunatic!" Tenten growled, trying to struggle around the head lock that he was giving her.

"If you'll do that Hidan, I swear on my father's grave that I will kill you." Something within Neji stirred, while Neji cursed to himself silently. It was a bad timing for his inner demon wanting to come out. He had to repress it for as long as possible.

Hidan snarled sadistically, as he held a wide cackling grin. "As if you'll kill me fucktard, you swore on your families' grave that you find your baby cousin – but she's still in that realm, shit scared in there."

"Do not bring Hinata-sama into this!" Neji shouted furiously, feeling slightly dizzy for a moment. It was happening, if Neji lets his darker side take over then it would be over for Tenten. He would probably kill her if she was in the way. "Just let go of Tenten, are you a coward who hides behind a human?"

"I'm not fucken retarded like you are!" Hidan stated with a glare. "We knew that this bitch was a hybrid from the moment we saw her." Tenten widened her eyes, but kept the glare. "Now Jashin-sama, shall taste the flesh of two demon hybrids-"The silver haired man was intermittent by a loud gun shot.

He groaned in pain, while Tenten slowly turn around and noticed his ebony cloak slowly turning scarlet. Her breath got caught in her throat, finding this the opportunity to escape his grip and ran towards Neji.

"Stay with me, he isn't dead yet." Neji explained, coldly glaring at Hidan as he hissed at the sharp pain. "It's virtually impossible to kill him that easily."

"Who shot him?" The brunette questioned, shuffling close to Neji as she watched Hidan reach out and pick the bullet shells out of his stomach that went through his back and ended by his gut.

"You fucken bitch!" Hidan whipped his body behind him to notice the new figure, who glared at Hidan with so much ferocity that Neji could feel the anger just through the air itself.

"Those are my customers you're threatening bitch." Yagana declared, reloading her shotgun and shot at him again. Hidan swore out loud and crouched over due to the pain, cursing the Innkeeper as she fired again. She gave a serious look to Neji and Tenten, furrowing her brow with fury. "You two, get out of here! We'll take care of this sad excuse of a zebra!"

"What about Shikamaru and Ino? We can't just leave them!" Tenten protested with wide eyes.

"Did you not hear her Tenten? She said _'we'll take care'._" Shikamaru spoke as he appeared behind Yagana with Ino, cocking his pistol towards Hidan while Ino held a revolver and hissed under her breath. "This would've been too troublesome, but I've got to kill the one who killed my godfather."

"So Hidan was the one who killed Asuma?" Neji growled, about to join in the fight when he heard another fire from Yagana.

"Neji, get the fuck out of my Inn – we'll deal with him." The violent tomboy ordered, as Neji raised an eyebrow in suspicion. She did not just order him around like that.

"Come on Neji, we don't have time to deal with your bruised ego!" Tenten hauled his arm and they left for the front door. He had to give one final look to his comrades – no… friends that were risking their own lives so that he and Tenten could save the ones they lost – before he turned away and left the building.

Yagana smirked cockily. "But don't wait too long…" She whispered, crying out in shock when Hidan lashed at her, her blood gently spilled on the end of the scythe. "Ah shit…"

The hunting duo jumped into the car, Neji realised that he had left keys in the room. "Shit!" He paused and looked around curiously. "Tenten? Have a knife on you?"

Tenten frowned at her companion. "Now do I look like the kind of woman to have a knife on her twenty-four seven?" Neji only responded with silence and the stare that basically told her to get on with it. "Yes, I do." She passed the very familiar pocket knife.

"I thought you dropped this?"

The brunette shook her head slowly in response. "I couldn't, it was never mine to take." Neji gave Tenten a soft smile, but the loud gunshot distracted Neji, making him pull out the blade and shove it in the ignition. The car roared itself to life, making Neji step on the accelerator. It screeched noisily, the tires burned to the road as it started to speed in the car.

"Make sure you have your seatbelt on Tenten." Neji muttered, while Tenten slowly grinned and buckled up. He smirked back, but their moment was disturbed by a human sized black figure soaring above them with loud shrieks. "It's some incomplete flying demon; make sure you shoot it down before it gets to us."

The monster hissed, diving in for the car and swooped over them, making them duck swiftly. As it approached, Neji noticed the scaly skin that covered its human like body with ebony outstretched wings. Its blood lusted orbs narrowed deeply as it scowled towards them, teeth expanded in its mouth as it pulled back a snarl.

Tenten reached out for the closet gun to her, wielding out her nambu to point at the monster. If Neji hadn't been in such a rush, he would've demanded Tenten to swap weapons, but he had to focus on the road. She narrowed her eyes and gave one look towards Neji. "Neji, where's its weak spot?"

"To be honest I don't know. I've never seen such a thing – just fire at any venerable spot you find in a normal demon." He explained with s scowl. The one time that they are in a rush and they had to fight a monster that he didn't know well of. It was just his petty luck.

Tenten growled under her breath and took aim, firing in the centre of its chest. The bullet went through its heart and it howled in pain, but Neji could see that it wasn't going to go down yet. He grumbled in annoyance and picked up the speed, making Tenten roll her eyes and took aim again - only this time, right in between its eyes.

The incomplete demon screeched the air, and the duo had to hold their ears back to not listen to the agonised cries from the monster. Its eyes caught on Tenten, and it's clawed like hand clutched onto Tenten who yelled out in horror. Before she could fire away, the creature forcibly pulled her out of the seat, easily ripping off the seatbelt off her.

"Tenten!" Neji shouted taking his eyes off the road to grab his own gun. He _not_ was going to lose Tenten now, not after discovering that he fell in love with her. Picking up the speed, Neji raced the demon on the road as he prepared his aim.

Tenten shouted out in horror as she noticed the car shrink, the gun still in her hand. She declared inwardly that they were at least fifty metres in the air. The monster suddenly dropped her and she scream out loud again as her body began to descent to the earth. She nearly got to the twenty-five metres when the demon had grabbed her again, toying with her.

When Tenten was caught again, her eyes widened as she noticed the fresh scar tissue being torn from the throat. The idea morphed into her head instantly, as she pointed her gun at the hand and fired. Once again she was dropped and Tenten found herself flying down quickly. Her chestnut orbs slowly counted the metres that she was dropping.

_Eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, fifteen._ She looked back at the demon as it swooped in for her again. _Eleven, ten, nine-_

The demon wrapped its claws around her arm and attempted to haul her up again, but Tenten had other plans. She lifted the nambu towards the creature's throat and fired two times before the gun declared itself out of bullets. It didn't have any time to screech, but headed towards the earth, faster than Tenten due to its weight. She made sure that she was above the demon's body as it landed in the ground, feeling the world come back to her.

Tenten stood weakly back up, only receiving minor injuries due to the fall. It probably had to do with her demon side. The adrenaline rush slowly died down, and the exhaustion got the best of her.

"Tenten!" Her gaze picked up on the bright blue car as it halted into a stop and Neji sprinted towards her with a hint of worry in his ivory orbs. Before she would lose her balance, Neji caught her and softly stared at her. "Are you okay?" He wanted to hold on to her as if she was weakened, but he knew well that she was strong enough to take care of herself. Neji found himself fascinated that she kept fighting.

"Thanks Neji…" Tenten replied with a faint smile, pulling herself on to her feet. "We should go save them."

The Hyuga took one disdained look towards the demon and held back an inner snarl. "Sure – let's go." They went in the car and drove off again.

…

It had been sixteen years since Neji stepped foot in the town, for sixteen years he had loathed this place because it had brought back horrible memories. Now that Neji was only in the place for one purpose, he couldn't find himself any happier. Tenten looked around the town, staring at the building with slight interest.

People walked through the town, Neji noticed that they had given him and Tenten strange glances but he paid them no mind. He parked the car, pulled out the baggage filled with weapons and gave Tenten a small nod as he shoved his pocket knife in his pocket.

"Didn't you say we had to find the past Hokage monuments?" Tenten wondered as she put her gun back in the bag. When she saw her partner smirk, she shook her head with a faint smile. "You already know where it is, don't you?"

Neji slowly nodded, and grabbed her hand automatically, making his own heart pick up its pace. "Come with me." He muttered, hoping that he would hide his embarrassed tone as he looked away from her and dragged her all the way to the edge of town. After they climbed on a large cliff, the brunette forced herself to let go of Neji's hand and took a minute to glance at the town below them. The Hyuga pretended that he didn't feel hurt when Tenten rejected him.

"Where is it?" She questioned, squinting her eyes towards the town before looking at Neji who had the pocket knife on its way to digging into his arm. "Neji! What are you doing?!"

"We're here Tenten." He replied calmly with a smile, fishing out another knife and holding it out to her. "We have to prove that we are demons by giving blood."

Tenten gave an uncertain look off the cliff, noticing that they had the faces of the Hokages, before she looked back at Neji who nodded. She smiled softly and accepted the knife from Neji, "I trust you Neji."

His heart soared as he stared back at Tenten's chestnut orbs. "On the count of three…" Neji decided, taking a step closer to Tenten, faces millimetres apart. "One, two, three-" The duo both dug into their skins, and they hissed in pain as the blood dripped from their arms and onto the cliffs. Neji noticed the world going dark around him, even Tenten flashed out of his vision as they disappeared from the cliff.

_**A/n: Here is the second chapter I had promised. Also, it was the first time I put a part of it in Tenten's point of view. Remember when Neji told her about demons throwing their prey around? Yeah... that idea came into my head back then... Once again, I like to thank everyone who takes their time to read it - I really appreciate it. Anyways, have fun reading.**_

_**Please review.**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. **_

**_Woow! I got accepted into TAFE *Does mini dance* Go me! I'm awesome! Go me! Sorry for any delay on the chaps... it kind of feels like I've been delaying for some weird reason... But I was honestly trying to write other things but got frustrated because I lacked the muse to write. Stupid muse of mine. But I went back to this, and I literally shot out of the ground... okay maybe not entirely... but I still managed to write it..._**

**_-_-' But, all that aside - I owe you guys a chapter. I was going to post this later tonight, but I was like 'screw it they deserve to not wait any longer' and here we are._**

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 10~ The Death Realm**

"Do you enjoy this pain you slut?" Hidan sneered whose skin was now black and white, impaling his own thigh with the scythe. "Your sacrifice to Jashin-sama should suffice."

Yagana had long ago dropped her gun, while Shikamaru and Ino had to remain still, harming Hidan would result harm in Yagana. Blood had covered her arms and now both legs, she knew she was done for by the next stab which was possibly intended by her stomach or chest. Mentally she prayed that the pain would end quickly. They had figured out the link between her and Hidan, but they so far hadn't gained a chance for an opening.

Shikamaru had never felt so furious with himself. His own godfather was killed by this very man, and couldn't even lay a finger on him because of the curse that he placed on his friend. It was no wonder that Asuma died – he couldn't even have a chance at a proper fight. He gave an uncertain look towards Ino, and was absolutely sure that she was just as pissed.

"Bitch please – the only sacrifice is gonna be from me is for something important." Yagana snapped back, a smirk grew on her face as she finally realised something. It was in a blink of an eye when she dashed towards Hidan and tackled the man into the ground, off the bloodied trap that he had stood on.

"You fucken bitch!" Hidan cursed, trying to push the brunette off him but she held onto him tightly.

_All those years of tackling my friends had paid off. _"Is that all you can call me you dumbass? I know I'm a bitch." Yagana retorted dryly, before she shot a dark look towards Shikamaru and Ino. "I can't hold him back forever, shoot his brains out." The man managed to sit up and throw Yagana off him; she only collapsed in a bloody mess beside him – still weakened after being stabbed so many times.

Shikamaru shook his head as he snapped back to the real world. This felt right, the vengeance – this man never deserved to live in the first place, to use and kill off comrades for a sacrifice. "Right." He took aim and missed his first fire, and shot again – this time he managed to shoot Hidan in between his eyes. Hidan grunted softly as he stopped moving, and fell limp on the ground while Yagana raised her head faintly.

"Yagana-chan!" Ino shouted, rushing over to her friend and kneel beside her. Yagana slowly chuckled, and raised her hand to her counter but her arms were too short for her to reach the top.

"Go get them – they need to help Neji and Tenten. Keys and guns are behind the counter – like always. My car is the Corona, treat it with care – it's the last thing of my brother's." The brunette explained with a faint smile. Shikamaru nodded and took out the keys and guns, loading them for his wife. "I'll catch up afterwards."

Ino's eyes widened in horror, just as Shikamaru grabbed onto her arm. "But-!"

"Ino, I swear to god – if you and Shikamaru don't leave this place I'll blow this entire inn up with you in it!" She promised with a dark glint in her eyes. "I'll be fine; Lady Luck always smiles down on me."

"Come on Ino!" Shikamaru protested, Ino gave one uncertain look towards Yagana before she whimpered and followed Shikamaru to the back of the building, spotting a red Corona. He let Ino sit in the passenger seat while he went to the other side and hopped it. The car started upon command, and it let out a loud roar of the engine as Shikamaru punched through the accelerator. It surged itself forward and through the wall, making it crumble down as the car left the building.

"Shika… Will Yagana-chan be okay?" Ino wondered, slowly turned around to see the building with a sad expression. Shikamaru furrowed his brow as he shifted his gears, unsure of the answer himself – the girl was on the ground losing a lot of blood. However for some reason, Shikamaru trusted Yagana wouldn't die.

"I think so-" A loud explosion cut him off, and Shikamaru widened his eyes in horror. No wonder Yagana was so intent on getting them out of the building – it would've blown up on them if they hadn't left a second later.

"Yagana!" Ino shouted through tears, as they sailed down her face. She then covered her face and began sobbing quietly. Shikamaru hadn't seen Ino like this since the beginning of this entire mess; the supernatural world had wrecked them so much. It was never so bad before five years ago. He couldn't support much, but he did raise one hand to rub her should sympathetically.

"Don't worry Ino, at least Yagana is with Lee now." The genius wasn't so sure if he was telling his wife the truth, most likely not but he needed her to be strong. For Yagana's sake. "We can't let Yagana live down her legacy Ino."

Ino sniffled and looked over to her husband. "I know… we've got to get them."

**-:-**

_"Neji! Wake up!"_

The world felt blurry around Neji as he tried to regain consciousness. What had happen? Did they fall? How had they ended up like this?

_"Neji!"_

He couldn't remember much, when his bright eyes stiffly opened he noticed two large brown eyes leering back at him. Neji groaned quietly, congealing to himself when he felt someone constrict him with warmth. As the warmth wrapped around his body, his heart hammered agitatedly. Inhaling the scent of coconuts, Neji instantly remembered everything.

"Tenten…" The Hyuga whispered, making Tenten pull away from him and shake him madly. His head started pounding at the sudden shake while she was scolding him for scaring her and she wouldn't have any idea what to do if they actually encountered a demon.

She continued her rants as she shook him, eyes squeezed shut in denial. "And when you were like that on the ground, I thought you were dead! Neji you scared the hell out of me! Why did you have to collapse on the ground like that you crazy idiot?!"

"So you were worried about me?" Neji smirked, his heart doing somersaults as Tenten stopped shaking him and looked away in embarrassment. If she cared about him, it simply proved to Neji that she couldn't hate him.

"Be quiet – now we need to figure out where we are." At the mention, Neji raised his head and looked around the place. It was nearly dark - if it wasn't for Neji's demon eyes then he would've been blind as a bat – with a cave like room except that the ceiling was unusually smooth and the ground was bumpy.*

He was actually in the realms of the pure demons, after sixteen years of preparation and he stood in what he believed were the realm of the pure demons. The monsters back in their world were nothing compared to a pure monster. It was at their home advantage.

"You're right – let's see if we can find our way around here or something." Neji silently walked through the cave, feet softly echoed with Tenten's. The realm was nothing that he expected; he expected noise – noise like unnatural howling or the agonising scream of the prisoners from the echoes. At least he was positive that Hinata wouldn't be getting fatally harmed during the sixteen years. He imagined living in the dark place for sixteen years, for so much silence Neji was surprised that there wasn't anyone going crazy.

"Hey Neji?" Her voice was softer than usual, and Neji only assumed that it was quiet because she didn't want to have any loud echoes.

Neji quietly raised his eyebrow and turned to the woman, his silvery orbs connecting with hers. "Is something wrong?"

"If we get separated…" Tenten looked away, well aware that either of them could get lost in this place. They didn't even know how large the realm was. "I think we should find them on our own if we get pulled away."

_Nothing will pull us away; I'll make sure that we are chained together if we have to._ He wanted to say; instead he nodded with a thin line, pulling out a small moonstone necklace. "Yes, and once you save them, make sure all of you are connected before dripping your blood onto this necklace – and you will return." Her eyes lowered to the necklace as Neji placed the cold chain in her hand with a twitch threatening to smile. She looked back at Neji with a look of relief, making his smile slightly widen. It felt like he had a roller coaster with this girl that he fell in love with.

"Did you hear that?" Tenten suddenly whispered, holding on to his arm as she stopped him. Neji paused and furrowed his brow, trying to listen in to the soft sounds of the echoes. After hearing a soft rumble, Neji's eyes widened and he pushed Tenten out of the way and dove the opposite path when an enormous canine figure pounced the spot they were once at. "What is that?!"

"It's a hellhound." The Hyuga explained instantly, standing back onto his feet as the furless hound turned its body to advance on him. Its snarl was directed towards Neji, but it leered its soulless orbs towards Tenten. "There would be more than one here."

Just on cue, the second hellhound leaped into sight, splitting Tenten away from Neji. "Neji, do you still have those weapons with you?" He nodded quickly, and threw a spare revolver towards Tenten. She caught onto the gun safely by the handle. "Let's put these dogs down."

The hellhound had lunged itself to Neji, who fired off three times with his own revolver and the bullets went in the hairless canine's chest. It jumped back as the bullet went in its chest; a yelp escaped its throat as it landed back on the ground. Neji narrowed his eyes, and held the gun out as if he dared the hellhound to come forward. When it did, Neji dove for safety as it leaped the air and attempted to attack his face. He shot at it again, but this time it continued its path, making Neji lift his arm to defend himself as the hound clamp its jaws around his arm.

Neji grunted out in pain, the bags of guns slipped from his shoulders and spilled out as he fell to the ground. The hound growled again, digging its incisors into his arm, giving Neji the only chance to raise his other arm and fire into the creature's head. It let out a quick whimper, but collapsed on top of Neji as it quickly perished, jaws still clutched around his arm strictly.

"Damn mutt." Neji grumbled, forcing the jaws to release his arm that instant. He winced, but the pain soon numbed as his fresh blood dripped effortlessly from his arm. _Tenten._ The Hyuga managed to pick himself off the ground to look for the weapons mistress but there was no one in sight – not even the hellhound that attacked her.

He needed to look for her, even though he had figured out a plan for Tenten to escape – she could've been trapped, or injured.

_Don't worry so much!_ A voice protested instantly, making Neji calm himself. _This is Tenten – strong, smart and beautiful. She will be fine!_ Once Neji thought things over, he relaxed though he still had one problem. If he did end up finding Hinata and Naruto, then he won't be able to leave without Tenten. Neji had given her the only key that let would let them escape.

He gave a glance around the walls; they had slashes and smeared crimson all over the place. Almost as if this wasn't just a realm for monsters – this had been a feeding place. Neji ignored the gut twisting feeling from his stomach, trying to get rid of the thoughts of Hinata possibly being here. Hopefully Neji wasn't too late into saving her, for as far as he knows – every demon could possibly know that he was here and they would target Hinata.

The sound of a faint moan made Neji reload his gun. He raised it directly towards the figure, but saw it as a human male with bloody scars trailing down his back, as if he had been whipped. Neji approached the figure cautiously, who blinked lazily as Neji crouched down beside him to get a better view. For one thing, Neji knew this guy was dead even if he tried to help him.

"Please… just kill me…" The man groaned, coughing blood violently which revealed his bruised and swollen face. He barely looked over to Neji, who had winced when he heard the hoarse tone in his voice. "I don't want to suffer anymore… My family is dead…"

"The kidnapped victims…." Neji started, narrowing his eyes at the man. It seemed that the man knew well of them when he stiffly raised his head towards them. "Where are they?"

"The more blood you see, the closer you are – follow the path with blood and warmth – you will definitely find them. Now please fucken kill me!" The stranger cried out, covering his face again.

_He's suffering – I wish I could do more this man; he didn't seem to deserve it._ Neji raised his gun to the man's head, squeezing his eyes shut before firing. No matter how long he had been hunting monsters, Neji couldn't stand putting end to a human's life – he hated it more that his inner demon relished it. He picked himself off the floor again, observing the bloody stains on the walls and followed the path, his insides crept in excitement. Something went crazy in his chest when he saw a faint light by the end of the sickening walls.

Everything he had trained for was up for this moment. Neji was still dazed that he managed to get this far. Surely there would've been more demons in this place. It probably was so empty because he happened to land in the feeding pits for some hairless mutts. The thoughts back to the hellhounds made him remember that Tenten still hasn't shown up. His gut twisted uncomfortably at the thought of Tenten being in danger.

The sound of a growl made his heart thud – it sounded close to a werewolf or something. Neji furrowed his brow, and approached closer to the light but hid in the shadows to prevent himself from being seen.

_"You stupid bitch! Can't you do anything right?"_ The Hyuga had to control his anger when he heard a loud slap, followed by a timid whimper escaping another voice.

_"I'm sorry Zaku-sama…"_ Her tone… It couldn't be. She spoke quietly – and mostly terrified of the world. Neji widened his eyes. He finally found Hinata. _"I did… not mean to upset you."_

_"Oh I'm not upset."_ The first voice which Neji quickly identified as Zaku replied harshly. "_This is upset-!"_

_"Leave Hinata alone you asshole!"_ A loud disruptive tone butted in the conversation.

_"Shut up! Who are you to give me orders?"_ Zaku's voice retorted. Neji found it time to stop playing hide and seek, as he entered the room; Neji instantly fired, letting the bullet impale the dark haired man's shoulders. The man cursed our loud to Neji, sending him a glare that fit in the definition of furious.

"Do not touch either of them."

"Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?"

Neji gave one look towards the two figures behind him. The first one was easily recognised as Hinata – she surely changed; with her indigo hair fully grown, her body developed into a woman's body which was barely concealed with a small brown dress with her pale face slowly reddening due to the slap - the only thing he could recognise were the innocent white orbs that were wide with fright. She didn't recognise him however, and hid behind the blonde haired boy who glared at both of the figures with his clear azure orbs with whisker like lines on his cheeks. He only wore a pair of baggy shorts, but his body was complete covered in faint scars, like the man Neji had saw previously.

"Hyuga Neji, the hunter that's going to kill you." As he introduced himself, Hinata seemed to widen her eyes in recognition but he paid no mind to her at the moment. Neji's glare hardened at Zaku as he cackled under his breath and walked towards Neji, ignoring the bullet wound.

"Hyuga. I didn't expect to see you til later." Zaku sneered, as his eyes brightened up.

"You won't be seeing much of me either as soon as I put a bullet through your head." Neji retorted coldly, raising the gun to his head. "Werewolves don't live after they get bullets to the brain." He taunted, slightly pulling off a smirk.

Zaku's sneer turned almost cocky as he retorted. "You found them rather quickly, so tell me where's your girlfriend? Did she not make it out alive?"

Once again Neji's thoughts returned to Tenten. He wasn't sure if Tenten had made it – it made him worried sick that she hadn't returned. But he knew that she'll make it. It wasn't because she could make a weapon using a paperclip, or that her skills in accuracy surpassed his – it was because Tenten came to this place so she could save Naruto and Neji knew well that Tenten would spend the rest of her life here until she found them.

"That's none of your business now – burn in hell." Neji tried firing but the gun clicked, declaring that it had ran out of bullets. He cursed silently and checked his pockets if he had any more bullets but he was empty. "Aren't I lucky?"

Zaku's sneered widened as his eyes glowed bright yellow and charged towards him, tackling Neji into the ground. Neji tried to push the man off, as Zaku's face slowly morphed into the shape of a wolf's, the smell of a rotting carcass escaped his breath. Zaku was going to bite Neji, when he whacked him with the gun, resulting in a louder growl. That was when Neji remembered the pocket knife that he shoved in his pocket after arriving to Konoha. He fished out the pocket knife, pulling the small blade out – he couldn't be more glad into seeing the weapon.

"It would be nice to have your head as a trophy." Zaku snarled with a deeper voice, grabbing Neji's throat with his jaws. The Hyuga sheathed out the knife, stabbing Zaku's eyes with the small weapon, resulting in another yelp and Zaku pulled his jaws away but Neji didn't stop attacking. As the blood continued to drip, Neji attacked the other eyes, cringing as his hands became soaked with blood. He pulled away and stabbed Zaku for the final time, slashing his throat. Zaku choked on blood, but silently fell on top of Neji.

"Good riddance." Neji muttered, now covered in the man's blood. He pushed Zaku's limp body off him, but stood up to stare at the two figures. "Hinata-sama."

The woman squeaked and hid behind the blonde haired boy who's stern expression returned. "Who are you? Don't go near Hinata!"

Was this the friend of Tenten's? Neji took a step closer towards his long lost cousin, who seemed to hide behind the boy. "I am here to save you…"

"She ain't leaving with you jackass!" The blonde claimed, stepping in front of Hinata.

Definitely a friend of Tenten's.

_"Now Naruto – is that how you speak to someone who rescued you?"_ Her voice. Neji recognised it instantly as he turned around and spotted-

"Tenten!" Naruto cried out with a wide grin. "You came!"

_**A/n: Heh.. If I were to be honest, I would say that this chapter would've been shorter if I didn't add in the Hellhound and the Zaku scene. So, Hinata and Naruto have been found! (As well as Tenten, Hurray!) But man... extending this chapter was not easy... *mumbles curses* Stupid mental word limit I have in my head.**_

_**But eh, this is a chapter - at least that I actually wrote something**_

_***For those who don't know in caves, the ceilings would have points because of crystals dripping down with water froze over time and the ground is covered in bat poop and that makes the ground smoothish… yep…**_

_**Please review.**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. **_**_Okay. I have some disappointing news. I am discounting this story after this chapter._**

**_Just kidding!_**

**_Seriously! I love this story too much to discontinue it. Heh... But I bet you guys got annoyed for a second, eh? Give me up top! ... Huh? Is anyone there reading? *Talking to an empty stage* Damn it... took the joke too far again..._**

**_Okay, that was your humour feast - now brace your inner Nejiten and read the following!_**

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 11~ A Demon should Follow its heart**

"Eh?! Tenten! Do you know this guy?" Naruto blurted out, pointing directly towards Neji, who had _calmly_ closed his eyes at the mood change. He was mostly concerned about the group getting out of here; Neji didn't want to be involved with chit chat. It wouldn't be long until someone realised that they had escaped. Now that Neji was closer to the prisoners, he could see the faint scars across Hinata's skin. Anger bubbled his chest when he realised that he wasn't there to protect Hinata at all, he failed in protecting her all these years.

"Yes, Neji is helping us get out of here." Tenten responded with a bit of a smile. She didn't look like she was wounded, much to Neji's relief as she exhaled with glee. Her expression widened when she suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, Neji – I picked these up from the bag when that hellhound attacked me." She handed him a few syringes, a few cases of bullets, a stake and a handful of throwing knives, but she pulled away just as she was about to hand him the throwing knives. "On second thought – I might keep the knives."

Naruto cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the hunting duo. "You're okay! My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" He then wrapped an arm around Hinata, who was slowly reddening due to contact. "And here is my friend – Hinata!" The female Hyuga mumbled something with flushed cheeks, her lavender orbs avoided Naruto's toothy grin.

Tenten seemed to smile widely, making Neji fluster suddenly at the sight of her smile. Neji tried to recount when it had been so adorable, with the peachy toned lips pulled to the shape of a crescent moon that had been tipped over. Instead he cocked his head on an angle, and moved his eyes away from Tenten, pretending that he didn't get all rattled up by the brunette. "We should get going; the more time we spend here the less of a chance that we all get out alive." Neji looked over towards Hinata who flinched under his piercing stare. "We should hurry, Hinata-sama."

The timid girl tried to stare away from her cousin's gaze as she mumbled. "I can't."

"Why not?" It was Tenten that asked, but Neji had to reframe himself from yelling it out with fury. He wasn't going to let Hinata go – she had been in this prison for too long! Slowly, Hinata raised her leg which had a chain tightly strapped around her ankle.

"They kept us in these chains whenever we weren't occupied." She whispered, just as Neji turned towards Naruto who was in the same situation.

"It's devil's steel." Neji muttered, crouching down to pick up the cool metal. It wasn't too thick; however it was not exactly thin. "One of the strongest metals in our world." He explained, narrowing his eyes sharply. There wasn't any way that he was going to give up after trying so hard. "Tenten." The mentioned brunette looked towards Neji with curious eyes. "Can you lock pick these chains? You're the one who can do these sorts of things."

Tenten blinked silently a few times before pulling off a smirk. "You know me so well Neji." She crouched down to Naruto's chains, pulling out one of the knives to pick at it.

"Ouch! Tenten!" Naruto whined, earning himself a pinch on the leg. "Ow!"

"Stop complaining." Neji growled, as Tenten proceeded to work on the chains. "We need to work as quickly as possible to get out of this place." He didn't enjoy anything about this place. The smell of rotting carcasses was finally getting into his nose. It had irritated the Hyuga greatly.

"Neji." Tenten spoke up, making him turn his eyes towards her. She looked back at him and they locked eyes, even though it was only for a moment, Neji had felt like nothing mattered at that moment. That he was going to get out of here with everyone, and possibly return to their lives. Would Neji continue living as a hunter? Truth be told that he wasn't so sure about leaving the hunting life anymore. He mostly just wanted Hinata safe and Tenten in his life. Tenten may remain being a supernatural hunter, and it made Neji reconsider his own choice that he made all those years ago. It bugged him nevertheless.

Neji distracted himself by pulling away first, finding the walls suddenly very interesting. "What is it?"

"Could you keep out a watch for those monsters? I can't focus if I'm trying to watch out for enemies too." She replied, looking back to the metals and cursing out loud when she failed to break it open. He silently nodded and loaded his gun with bullets. The last thing that Neji wanted was to waste more time when Tenten could do a faster job.

As he watched the exit of their 'prison' Neji had pondered on his situation with Tenten. Should he tell her the truth? Did Tenten feel the same way as him? He briefly glanced at Tenten, who had her tongue sticking out her lips in deep concentration, chestnut orbs fixed on the chain with the knife deep inside the lock and trying to pick Naruto into freedom.

Hinata hadn't had freedom since she was three, Neji wondered if Hinata was ever going to get courage in her life. Naturally people were born shy and they die shy. It was the way that fate works. Tenten had never believed that fate led to the choices that the society made; if they were a demon or hybrid, if the Akatsuki decided to claim them as theirs. Neji couldn't help but smile at the thought of Tenten – she really had taken a tight grasp to him, even if she didn't realise it.

"I got it!" Tenten squealed, raising her arms in the air due to celebration. Naruto kicked the chain into freedom and stared at his free leg in wonder. He hadn't touched the fresh air in four months! The blonde haired boy was excited, and he wrapped his arms around Tenten- embracing her with glee, unaware that Neji was glaring with envy at Naruto. He must be seeking a death wish. "Alright, Hinata… now your turn." Tenten turned to Hinata, who blushed and raised her leg for Tenten to break the lock, letting Naruto bounce freely to Neji.

"Tenten's probably the most reliable person ever!" He exclaimed with a wide grin, as he turned towards Neji who nodded calmly in agreement as he placed his silvery gaze on her. "So how do you know her? Do you guys hook up regularly or something?"

Neji was about to snap at the blonde haired boy before he stopped himself when he heard an outraged yell and a nearly silent whistle in the air. Why does everyone keep questioning their relationship?!

"Naruto!" Tenten snapped, throwing the knife towards his direction, but missed by a millimetre. It sliced a bit of his golden hair and it hit the wall. "I missed on purpose. Next time it's going lower." Naruto gulped nervously, his face slowly turned pale at the tone of voice that the brunette gave. She sighed out of frustration, and pulled out another knife to proceed picking at Hinata's chain. The indigo haired girl didn't peep as Tenten grumbled in annoyance of the stubborn lock.

Neji on the other hand, still had his glare on Naruto, who was beginning to grin innocently. His brow furrowed deeply as it formed into a scowl, narrowing his silvery orbs as he did so. "If you assume such foolish thing again, you will have a lot more than Tenten to deal with." It was Neji's promise. He wouldn't let Naruto survive if the blonde crossed the line of Tenten's comfort zone.

"Y-Yes sir." Naruto stuttered, keeping back a sigh when Neji turned his eyes away from him.

"Good, now keep an eye out here – you don't know what to expect." Neji stated, staring back out into the darkness of the realm. He didn't imagine Tenten to be friends with such an idiot… but it was because he cared for her that he would let it go. At the thoughts, Neji found himself mentally stuck – would he risk everything for Tenten because he loved her? Taking a glance towards the cursing brunette, he found himself smiling softly and straightened his expression before Naruto could jump into conclusions. The simply answer appeared in his head as he took another look at Tenten again – tongue out again in high concentration, brow deeply furrowed in deliberation, and her chestnut orbs studying her movements before she would continue her work. Yes – he would risk everything because of his feelings.

"Done!" Tenten squealed suddenly, jumping onto her feet and dancing with a gleeful smile. "I rock at this! Since I did Naruto's first, I was able to do Hinata-san's much easier."

Hinata bowed with a nervous smile. "Thank you Tenten-san, I appreciate your work." She whispered quietly, trying to avoid the eye contact with the fellow brunette. Naruto ran towards the two, embracing the females into a group hug. Hinata's cheeks flashed into a ruby red, while Tenten laughed along with a warm hearted manner. Neji watched with observant eyes, unsure on if he should join them or stay out of it but a faint sound from the distance made him freeze. They know that they're about to escape.

"We need to get out of here. Tenten get that necklace out, I'll spill the blood." The male Hyuga proclaimed, watching the group as they looked back at him and broke apart. Tenten pulled out the moonstone necklace, showing the bright stone in the light. Neji approached the group and burrowed Tenten's knife, letting the steel flash in the soft lighting. "Ready guys?" The group nodded, and held onto Neji as he lowered the blade to his arm.

"_This sounds fun? Could I play?" _They immobilized with that. It was too late. Neji gritted his teeth, and noticed six tanned arms on this man who had approached them. The strange man stood in the entrance, his sadistic sneer directed at them. He took a look towards the dead body on the ground, his grin vanished into a scowl. "Zaku was never a good sportsman – of course he would lose."

Before Neji or Tenten could attack, the man spat out web towards them, trapping Hinata into the wall. She whimpered as her back collided into the wall, her face scrunching up in pain.

"Hinata-sama!" Neji proceeded to save his cousin, but the six armed man had already spat his… web towards the Hyuga Prodigy. It trapped him to the wall, only appearing an arm's length away from his cousin. Teeth grinding against each other, Neji couldn't help but curse mentally. She was so close, yet so far. His head snapped up when he saw Tenten and Naruto trapped in the same web, a few metres further than the Hyugas.

"This was too easy that it was boring." The demon spider muttered, pulling out a small dagger. "I wonder who I should kill first…" He mused, his insane grin widened with satisfaction as his victims attempted to pull themselves free. Neji growled under his breath as he watched the man stride towards him and Hinata. "Maybe I should kill the Hyuga-hime first – I mean after all: she is the reason on why you guys are here the first place. Her job as bait is done." Pressing the blade on her pale skin, Hinata began to whimper with her ivory orbs beginning to bring up tears.

Neji's jaw grit in fury, and opened his mouth to speak but he was already beaten to it.

"Leave her alone Kidomaru!" Naruto defended, his ocean blue eyes appeared as if they had changed into a shade of red for a brief moment. Hinata widened her eyes in astonishment of how much the blonde haired boy garrisoned her from everything.

The man known as Kidomaru flickered his dark orbs from Hinata, to stare at Naruto before turning to face Neji. "Maybe, I should kill the Hyuga Prodigy first – Orochimaru-sama has been letting you play along for too long." He threated, as he pulled away from Hinata to press the blade on Neji's throat. The steel felt cool to his skin, as if it was jeering the fact that Neji was so close to death.

"Screw you." Neji spat, his ivory orbs narrowed with little terror and remained unfazed by his actions. He was never afraid of death, and he wasn't going to fear it now that his life was on the line. Kidomaru showed his teeth in a cocky grin, pulling the blade away to face Naruto and Tenten. Neji's eyes widened in horror. "No!" He may have never feared death, but he never expected to act so fast on his instincts, the fury built up in him and he simply snapped – by moving his arms the webs tore by his quick movement, pulling out a stake that Tenten gave him and attempted to attack but Kidomaru jumped away just before any harm could happen.

"How the heck did you-?" Kidomaru widened his eyes as Neji rushed towards Naruto and Tenten, to break them free and to break Hinata free with them. It all happened in the blink of an eye. As they grouped together again, Neji faced Kidomaru; who seemed to widen his eyes suddenly.

"Tenten." The brunette raised her head as Neji spoke. "Get out of this place – I'll keep this guy busy." He muttered coldly, deep down it felt like his heart was breaking. Neji didn't want to leave Tenten just yet – he still wanted to stay with her, to train with her, to properly confess his love for her and he still wanted to see her smile for him.

"Neji-nii-san…" Hinata tried to encourage, but she lost her voice. Neji tried to face his young cousin, who had called him 'nii-san' again but reconsidered. She had truly recognised him as her cousin again, and Neji was rather relieved of that.

"Make sure you stay with these guys." He commented calmly, clenching his free fist and gritted his jaw. It felt so much like goodbye to him and it was torture.

"But Neji-!" Tenten grabbed his shoulder and turned him around, holding in a gasp as she saw his face. Hinata lowered her gaze from Neji and hid behind Naruto who was staring intently at his face. Veins pulsed around his ivory eyes, giving them a slightly intimidating stare. "Your… demon…"

Neji gave one gaze to Tenten, just as he calmly closed his eyes. "Yes – it's under my control right now but I cannot make any promises if I can control it or not, _please_ leave." He begged to her urgently just as Tenten widened her eyes in revulsion. It had been too long since he had let his demon out, but if it was to keep Hinata and Tenten safe, then so be it.

"But Neji, I can fight! You can't fight him alone!" She stated, just as Neji fully turned to face her as he opened his eyes again.

"I can do it Tenten; I've been training for sixteen years for this." He replied, his eyes almost softening at the sake of watching Tenten's worried chestnut orbs. They were so innocent yet strong at the same time; it was almost as if he was staring into the same eyes of the girl he met four months ago pointing the nambu at him. It seemed like forever he was watching her, like the world wasn't around them and Neji wasn't risking his life for her.

She has been under his watch for the months, but back then – Neji didn't feel anything for the brunette. It was on the night that they had watched the stars together; she had a look of wonder, and the innocent giggle that escaped her lips. When Neji discovered that the Akatsuki were onto them, he couldn't help but smile as Tenten closed her eyes in front of him and she fell into an acquitted slumber. She understood him like no one else did.

_"But don't wait too long."_

Something possessed him: his hands were automatically holding onto her flushed face and he found himself leaning towards her as his heart started to thrash in his chest wildly. He kept leaning closer until he felt something warm touch his lips – her lips tenderly kissed back. Neji barely controlled his actions, pulling away one hand to pull the strands of hair behind her ears as Tenten began to respond. Tenten softly moaned under her breath, unaware that Neji removed his hand away from her hair and quickly hit the side of her neck which made her body go limp in his arms. His grip on her tightened so that her body wouldn't fall to the ground, inhaling the sweet scent from her hair.

_I love you, Tenten._

"Naruto." The blonde shook his head out of the trance and stared at Neji. "Protect these two with your life." He placed Tenten in Naruto's arms and pulled out the moonstone necklace to place it in his hands. "Get out of here now."

"Right." Naruto clutched onto Hinata, grabbed the blade, and cut Tenten's wrist. The small droplets of blood trickled down her skin as it splattered on the white stone. "Wait Neji." Neji slowly turned towards the small group that were glowing luminously. "What about you?"

The Hyuga turned away from the bright light, his fist curled up into balls. "I'll catch up." He lied, keeping his eyes on Kidomaru who seemed to mockingly snicker. "You better hurry."

Naruto bought the lie as he nodded with resolve. "Alright Neji. Catch up soon so you can tell Tenten you love her." Neji didn't respond to the blonde haired boy as the group vanished into thin air, leaving Neji alone with his opponent.

"Now that was touching." Kidomaru stated sarcastically. "Now, we should start our round." He spat out more web, making Neji tighten his hold on the stake to slash through the web. His throat emitted a low growl, as the web shredded by the stake. "It seems that you know how to escape my web."

Neji didn't respond, he only narrowed his eyes deeply and held out the stake in front of him. He didn't know if he would be able to make it, and even if he did survive this fight Neji didn't have any way of travelling back to the human world. Eventually the demons would either keep him as a prisoner, or they would kill him. Either way, Neji was never going to see Tenten or Hinata again. A part of Neji wanted to apologise for lying to them, he barely even got to help Hinata bring her life together again but at the same time – he was glad that she was able to make it out alive. As long as Hinata stays with Naruto and Tenten, then she should be fine.

The Hyuga used his free hand to pull out his revolver and shoot towards the demon in front of him. Bullets fired rapidly they sunk into Kidomaru's muscle; he cursed out loud and clutched onto his arm.

"This is… an amusing game." He chuckled as black lines marked his face, teeth slowly sharpening into fangs. "I really enjoy this level."

Neji scowled, and raised the revolver to aim at Kidomaru's head – he fired automatically but his eyebrow quirked when he realised he shot at nothing. Obviously when Kidomaru developed those markings on his body, he had gotten faster.

"You lose." Kidomaru taunted behind the Hyuga, making Neji quickly whirl around to try to defend himself however Kidomaru had already wrapped his clawed hand around Neji's throat, stabbing him in the chest with what seemed to be one of the throwing knives that Tenten had. That was when Neji noticed that Kidomaru had three golden eyes now, darker skin, grey hair and dark horns.

Neji instinctively tried to grab Kidomaru's hand off his throat as he choked on the lack of air that he received. At first he tried to attack the demon with the stake but Kidomaru grabbed a hold of it and stabbed his stomach with it. The wooden weapon plunged into Neji's flesh, making him groan at the pain – eagerly waiting for the stake to be pulled out but Kidomaru simply laughed as Neji gritted his teeth together, leaving the stake where it was.

He remembered this man in front of him. Sixteen years ago… this demon had ensnared his family, and successfully kidnapped Hinata. Another demon had threatened to kidnap him as well; however it was killed before it had a chance to take Neji. His heart thundered in his chest as Neji pulled back a snarl, with his body slowly numbing. It was too late – it had already taken over him.

Almost instinctively, Neji reached down for the syringe and stabbed Kidomaru's arm. He couldn't stop himself, even if he wanted to. Kidomaru growled out as he dropped Neji to rip out the needle in his arm, hissing in annoyance. "That was a low blow." His body collapsed to one of his knees, losing the air rather quickly due to the substance that Neji had injected in him.

The Hyuga fell on his knees, with his dark hair covering his ivory orbs and showed a large smirk. Neji inwardly growled but no sound came out for his inner demon had too much control over him, reaching for the stake to tear it from his stomach. Crimson liquid spread on his shirt, indicating that the blood was quickly escaping his body but Neji didn't seemed too affected by it – on the outside.

"You're dead." He mocked with an unfamiliar sneer, running towards Kidomaru with the stake in his hand and speared the weapon in the demon's chest – much to Neji's amusement. Kidomaru grunted as his body morphed back into its original state, jaw slowly turning into a smirk when he realised on what was going on. Neji mentally overpowered the demon that battled inside him, having the control over his actions again, the energy drained from his feet as he fell to the ground. All of his senses and pain returned to him, when he realised that the bloodlust had taken over him again.

"You're gonna die anyways." Kidomaru sneered, falling to the ground as well with his body shaking violently. "Too bad, Orochimaru-sama might've been interested in your demon."

Neji refused to give in, he raised his head to glare at the opponent in front of him, and dizziness overcame him as the veins around his eyes disappeared. At least he won't die with the demon taking over him. "I won't die… yet…" He swore, his hand weakly pulled out the knife that remained in his chest and pushed himself to his feet again.

Kidomaru showed another sinister snarl, but his eyes slowly closed. "You were up a higher level than I thought…" He muttered, just as he focused on the ceiling of the realm, slowly perishing from his life.

The Hyuga took a few steps forward but collapsed again, coughing and spluttering from the blood that clogged up his airway. Neji knew that he was going to die, but he only wished that he knew how Tenten was going, and if she was going to ever forgive Neji. His vision went blurry, but he managed to catch the sight of another figure before he descended into darkness.

"Ten...ten... I'm sorry..."

_**A/n: Once again, this chapter was going to be shorter if I didn't add in the chain picking scene which I kind of enjoyed because of Naruto. He's so cute! I could just crush the life out of the poor kid! Though he's not as cute as Lee... Man I can't believe I killed him off... *Grumbles in a corner* But anyways, I'm not good at writing fight scenes, something I had to learn the hard way... I hope you guys managed to absorb that all in :D**_

_**But no one gives about that... We all care about that Nejiten kiss! I got all fangirlish when I wrote that... I swear I need help... and a bit of a life... eh... but it all ends with a cliffy. Man! I can't stand them when it happens to me but I love torturing my readers with them :D**_

_**Please review.**_

_**P.S - I got a new idea, though its just spouting and I will be finishing this up before posting any other stories. A NaruHina fic with supporting Nejiten, I've only just got a basic idea but when I've got some chapters I'll put it down... sound awesome? Of course it does... its me!**_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. Oh... I've still got bit of a bad flu, and a case of... cursing the recent Naruto chapter for what they did. For those people who knows what happens... I'll be honest... I am pissed off... that should never happen... I was balling my eyes out too... **_

_**Kishimoto... I need answers! Why? WHY ARE YOU SO CRUEL?! ... guys I need a minute... I'm crying again... Kishimoto I haven't been this mad at you since the previous chapter... I swear... If you do anything like that again I'll be hunting you in Japan! Your head shall be mounted on my wall!**_

_**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Chapter 12 ~ Blast from the Past**

When his eyes opened again, she was just there… right in front of him with her back facing him.

_Tenten?_ No words escaped the Hyuga Prodigy's lips; his voice couldn't even make a peep. Slowly Tenten had turned her glassy chestnut orbs met his as her hair loosened out of the buns and followed the whispering breezes beside her. Instead of answering, Tenten turned back around and kept her gaze away from Neji. This made a strange loathing sensation swirl up in his chest, like the feeling of regret. When her shoulders shook, Neji found himself stumbling over a foolish question.

Was Tenten crying?

Neji had not seen Tenten cry since the day her demon took over her. She had tried to hide the tears so well, but it was all too much for one person to handle so she let the tears soak her cheeks. He remembered it too clearly – as if it was the day before. He tried to call out to her, but his body remained frozen as she fell to her knees and her sobs deepened.

"Why do I lose everyone I get attached to?" The brunette whimpered, covering her face as she did so. As Neji remained watching Tenten, his chest clenched together tightly and a sense of guilt began flood his stomach for forcing her to go when she could have helped him fight Kidomaru.

Kidomaru.

Wasn't Neji supposed to be dead? He was stabbed twice, the blood loss would've been too much for him to handle. There were some things that Neji couldn't answer, whether he had survived or not. Feeling a sense of warmth touch his shoulder, Neji was able to turn to face the new figure – this one he easily recognised.

_Father._ Again, Neji couldn't find himself to speak as the Hyuga Hizashi smiled down at him. His dark hair tied back into the common ponytail that his family use to wear, with the familiar snowy orbs. It had been sixteen years since he saw his father's smile. During those years, Neji had grown, now only a few centimetres shorter than him.

"I am proud to call you my son, Neji. Now keep fighting, and go to her…" Neji felt his eyes sting with tears, he couldn't even remember the last time he thought of crying. It showed the weakness that a hunter should never have. "I love you Neji."

"Father…" He managed to croak, clenching his jaw together as everything darkened around him and his body began to weigh him down.

The next thing Neji heard was the beeping of a heart monitor and the sound of faint scratching. His eyes flickered open, cringing to himself when the harsh brightness glared at his orbs; however they slowly readjusted to the light. Neji furrowed his brow when he noticed a pink haired figure had her hands hovering above his stomach with a faint glowing light emitting from them.

His guard went up, jerking himself into reality before shortly groaning from a sharp pain in his chest and stomach. The pink haired girl jumped back in response, before sending a dark glare towards Neji with her emerald green orbs.

"Don't do that idiot! Do you want to reopen your wounds?" She snapped, furrowing her brow deeply. It gave Neji enough time to gaze around the room, assuming to himself that he was in a hospital. After all – it wasn't every day when he would pass out in a demon realm to wake up back in the human world's hospital.

"How did I get here?" Neji asked, unable to recognise the deep groggy voice that sounded out from his throat.

"Your friends… Shikamaru and that Ino-pig arrived and told us of the situation – you were lucky that Kakashi-sensei was able to get you out of there and save you on time." She smiled stiffly, removing her hands from his wounds and keeping them behind her back. "I forgot, I'm Haruno Sakura – demon healer." For a nurse, she seemed quite ill-tempered.

Neji didn't stop his eyes from narrowing suspiciously. "Demon healer?"

"Yes. Many hybrids like us have to defend the humans from something." Sakura responded, picking up a clipboard and checked his responses of hitting certain nerves. When they worked out fine, Sakura wrote the results down.

"How long have I been out?" The Hyuga wondered as he reframed a growl when Sakura got too close to the wound on his stomach. She muttered out a small apology, before shining a light in Neji's eyes – much to his dismay.

"Three and a half weeks." Sakura answered calmly, smiling slightly when Neji choked on his own breath.

"Three weeks?" Neji replied with a raised eyebrow. Were the injuries that harsh for him? They were only two main stab wounds, but then again… he paused when he remembered that the demon had taken over him as well. It would've taken a lot of recovery time just to get back in his normal shape.

She nodded calmly and checked if the machines were working corrected. "Yes: you had faint traces of poison in your body from the one you fought – but no one except for my Master and I were allowed to see you. We didn't want to risk having your demon suddenly awaken if they were on the bedside." Neji's eyes lowered briefly trying to recollect when Kidomaru could've possibly poisoned him. He had probably been poisoned once Kidomaru had his throat, but Neji snapped back up at the sound of the woman's voice. "Alright Neji-san, I'll bring in Kakashi-sensei so he could talk to you and then I will allow some visitors." The woman walked out of the room before Neji could ask any more questions, leaving him to stare at the plain white ceiling.

How did that girl know of his name? Well she knew of Shikamaru and Ino by the looks of it. And what about Tenten and Hinata? Were they alright? Nothing bad had happened on the way back did it? Neji groaned to himself when he realised that he worried too much about Tenten – she was trained by him after all: she can defend herself just fine.

As it turns out, Neji was saved by some mysterious stranger known as Kakashi. Whoever he was, Neji had to sincerely thank the stranger for saving his life. If he hadn't survived then he wouldn't be able to explain himself to Tenten before she beat the crap out of him.

"Yo." A new voice made Neji narrow his eyes towards the silver haired stranger. The man had a mask cover the bottom of his face and a bandana covering his left eye. There was something about the stranger that made Neji feel a sense of déjà vu. "The name's Hatake Kakashi, I believe we met before." He stated, the visible eye narrowing with acceptation when Neji took in a short breath. "Hyuga case sixteen years ago I believe."

"You're… that person that killed the demon. And saved me from my fate." Neji pieced together, his eyes narrowed into slits immediately. He easily recognised the silver as the flash of silver back then, the memory of it all stuck to his head like glue. "Why did you do it? Why save me back then and now?"

The man known as Kakashi exhaled calmly, before he pulled up a plastic chair and sat beside Neji. "Do you think that the Akatsuki are the only organisation that has hunters?"

Neji remained unfazed as his ivory orbs met with the visible eye of his rescuer. "The Akatsuki are only training hunters so they can lure the pure demons here." His eyes then narrowed sharply, lowering his voice to an audible whisper. "Is that your intention? To gain power to control our worlds?"

"Nope. We're just doing what we came here for, to kill off any demon around." Kakashi replied steadily, leaning back on the chair as he observed Neji. "We can't kill every single monster out there." He told Neji, his single eye leered at him with little muse.

"We can try." The Hyuga responded coldly immediately, keeping a tight hold on the sheet that was placed over his body. "I will try to kill every single monster out there – as it's because of them that all of us are miserable."

"You're stubborn." Kakashi concluded bluntly, ignoring Neji's heated glare as he stared at the ceiling. "I hadn't even finished speaking yet…" When Neji lowered his guard, Kakashi looked back at him with a firm stare. "We can't kill every single monster, its physically impossible: _but_ – it doesn't not mean that we cannot get rid of them."

"What do you mean, get rid of them?" Neji wondered, raising an eyebrow and subconsciously leaned forward. "How can you get rid of something without killing them?" His eyes picked up on the fact Kakashi was reaching for the front pocket of his pants, fishing out a particular item.

The silver haired man raised his hand out of his pocket to pull out a slip of folded paper and passed it to Neji. Neji didn't bother to respond out loud as he unfolded the paper itself, revealing the crumbled picture of a small red stone, a transparent scarlet to be exact. He saw that the surface of the stone was smooth, with no cracks in it like most stones had.

"They call it the Shinjomyaku." Kakashi clarified, clasping his fingers together. "If we cannot kill every single monster out there – then we're going to seal them all up with this stone."

Neji widened his eyes in response as he stared at Kakashi before looking back at the piece of paper in front of him. He didn't expect that such a small stone would do so much. His brow furrowed in deep thought as he passed the paper back. "Where do I come in this? Clearly you wouldn't share with me this kind of information for nothing."

From under the mask, a crinkle of the cloth turned upwards to indicate a smile. "We're wondering if you and your friends could join us to help us finally seal up the underworld – well I should say you, considering that they already accepted while you were unconscious."

"Friends?"

"You know, Shikamaru and Ino we already on board when they came to us – convincing Naruto was no trouble either, and little Hinata was too determined to disagree – she definitely has her father's blood in her. Now Tenten, she wasn't too enthusiastic at first but decided to go after a brief moment of encouragement."

"Tenten…" Neji muttered, before sitting up to glare at the man. "Where's Tenten?"

Kakashi raised his hands in defence with a relaxed grin. "You're so protective of her! She's in the dojo venting out her anger, I saw her earlier and she didn't want to see you when I asked if she wanted to join me."

The Hyuga furrowed his brow in confusion as he frown at the man. "Why? Why would Tenten be angry with me?" His answer almost dawned on him the second the words left his tongue. He knocked her out – right after he kissed her so that he could fight Kidomaru on his own.

"It seems you know why." Kakashi muttered, standing onto his feet. "Well, I should be going now! I have things to read and monsters to kill." He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to leave, but Neji had already spoken up.

"I'll do it." He decided with a quiet voice.

"That's good, get better and we'll talk more later concerning plans." Kakashi lazily waved and exited the room, leaving Neji lost in his thoughts. He was surprised that they had let Hinata join them, because of her timid nature would get her greatly injured. However if she wanted to help Neji hunt the supernaturals then so be it, he would have to help her train just like he had for Tenten because after all; he was meant to serve and protect Hinata.

Tenten.

He shouldn't be surprised that she was mad at him, but he was. They all came out alive in the end didn't they? His eyes focused on a particular scratch on the ceiling, trying to decide if he should go talk to Tenten as soon as he got out.

"Neji-nii-san." At her voice, Neji turned to the entrance again, where Hinata was shyly smiling at him with a flower in her hands. "I was allowed to visit you today." She explained, taking in his silence as an invitation to enter the room. Placing the flower on the table beside him, Neji found himself glad that she had a change of clothing. Wearing a long sleeved blouse to cover her upper torso and the scars went over her blue jeans. "It's nice to see you awake nii-san."

"Thank you, Hinata-sama." Neji replied warmly, holding back a smile. He felt a sense of achievement when he realised that he managed to save her. It took him sixteen years, but it was worth it.

"I should be thanking you, nii-san – you saved my life from there." She mumbled softly, looking down at the ground again. "You managed to save Tenten-san and… Naruto-kun." Her cheeks turned pink upon mention of the blonde haired boy before looking at him with resolve. The Hyuga Prodigy widened his eyes as his silver orbs connected with his cousin's – he could see that her eyes weren't as shy as they were a few moments ago. "I want to become stronger, and I want peace in our world."

Neji didn't reply at first. He had already decided that he was going to let Hinata fight with him and he could see the determination that brightened the younger Hyuga's eyes. It was just like Tenten's eyes… just like Naruto's. The only conclusion that Neji could come up with was Naruto's determination was contagious, and it spread to a lot of people quickly.

"I will help you." Neji finally agreed, keeping a faint smile on his face. "Because I won't always be around to protect you."

Hinata smiled widely, her bright eyes lightening up with glee. Her innocence was so exposed, Neji wondered if she really was caught in a demon realm, or they were just there at the moment they came. "Thank you nii-san! This means a lot to me!" She reached out to grab his hand, her eyes raised to his forehead and her smile dropped suddenly. "I wish I could help you about your curse. I want to remember on how my father did it so I can get rid of it."

Neji looked up, his brow wrinkled in realisation when he considered on why his brow was so itchy anymore. He found his black bandana on the table beside him and wrapped it around his forehead, covering the curse from the rest of the world. He hated it, but swore to himself that he would get rid of it someday. "Don't worry, we'll eventually find out how to dispose of it. Until then, I am the cage bird that's waiting for its freedom."

The Hyuga cousins stayed together for the next few hours with the occasional check-ups from Sakura, Hinata was catching up on Neji's life and on what he has seen. She only listened with a smile, laughing quietly when Neji would mention his troubles training Tenten. Her smile would only widen as she watched Neji talk about Tenten in the most detailed way. He described that she was one of the most stubborn person that he had ever met, but used that stubborn attitude to his own advantage for tagging together in the unstoppable team.

"I would have to thank Naruto for protecting you and Tenten after you disappeared from the demon realm." Neji stated, smiling softly at the thought of the blonde haired boy. Even as an obnoxious brat, Naruto did keep on his word. That's what Neji liked about him.

"You love Tenten-san…. don't you?" Hinata inquired softly, her smile shrank into a calm beam as she noticed Neji stiffening upon thought. His eyes closed in deep thought, almost as if he was debating with himself whether he should admit the truth or not, before opening his eyes with a mirrored smile.

"Yes, Hinata-sama… I love Tenten."

The next day, Neji was let out by Sakura who proclaimed to be careful if he was going to start training again. He shook the pink haired woman off, and met up with Hinata who finally hugged him after sixteen years of being apart. Neji wanted to push his cousin off, but decided against it and held onto the embrace for a few moments.

"Let's go." Hinata whispered, letting Neji go and led him out of the hospital. He followed along with his cousin silently, trying to consider on the worst situations if he didn't apologise to Tenten.

One case would be that she took out all of her weapons somehow and struck him in every vital point. Another would be that she decided to avoid him for the rest of her life. The worst would be if she hated him. However Neji knew Tenten wouldn't hate him for knocking her out after kissing her. It was too… childish?

As they approached the front of the nearly empty Dojo, Neji had walked to the entrance and found himself stopping just before entering. He could see her, but unsure if she would notice him because of her deep concentration. It was the first time that Neji had seen her wear such clothing; as usual she would wear her chocolate hair in the buns however she wore a black sleeveless Chinese top, neatly tucked under her smooth slacks. She unsheathed a katana and sliced an imaginary opponent smoothly, positioning the blade comfortably before letting out a lunge in the air.

Neji felt captivated by watching her swift movements, unable to hide a prideful smile as she let out a cry of outrage and tore the air behind her. He leaned on the door's edge, hearing it softly creak at the pressure of his weight as Hinata took a few steps closer to him.

"Naruto-kun told me that Tenten-san was taught by a girl called Yagana-san. They apparently grew up together in their orphanage, but she was adopted before everything happened." Hinata softly explained, flinching behind Neji when Tenten let out another war cry and slashed the air. "You should apologise to her now, nii-san."

Neji felt himself gulp in nerves. She did have a katana in her hands, he may be able to use all sorts of weapons but Neji did not know much of the older weapons, to defend himself. He found himself flinching when Tenten lifted the katana high in the air. "But… what do I say?"

"Just say what's in your heart, I'll leave you two alone." She retorted, finding enough strength to push Neji off his feet. Since he had lowered his guard, Neji stumbled over and landed on his hands before his face could make contact with the ground. He whipped his head to send a glare at Hinata but the door had already closed behind him. What kind of help was this? Tenten was going to murder him! Neji turned to face Tenten again, but he found himself only millimetres away from a pointy blade.

"You got a lot of nerve coming here to face me Hyuga." Tenten growled, jerking the katana away from his face. "On your feet." Neji gave Tenten a glare, silently questioning her if she was giving him orders but stood up almost obediently, and his eyes widened when Tenten had passed him a wooden staff. "Take it." As he accepted, Tenten sheathed her sword away and pulled out a spare staff.

"Tenten-" He tried to speak but found himself blocking the brunette's maddening staff attack. She cried out in fury as she swung at him, and he managed to block or dodge the attacks.

"Do you have any idea of how worried I was?!" Tenten snapped, swinging the staff towards his face but he moved the weapon to block the attack. "I said I would back you up, but you knocked me out instead!"

"I know." Neji replied, ducking a swing from Tenten before retaliating. She pushed her feet from the ground and jumped over the ducked Hyuga before attempting to attack again. It led into another block, and the duo faced each other with hard eyes.

"Right after you had kissed me too." She continued through heavy pants, the training earlier taking on toll on her. They pushed each other back, sliding on their feet as they did so.

"I know." Neji repeated with a quieter tone, eyes lowered away in shame. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, raising the staff in front of her again.

"Is that all you can say?!" Tenten growled, swinging the staff to connect with his skull. He sidestepped her, making her widened her eyes at the miss, and this gave Neji the opportunity to move behind her, taking a hold of her weapon to pull it against her throat.

"I'm sorry Tenten. I was selfish, and I acted like a fool to prevent you from getting hurt." His whisper tickled her ear, sending chills down her spine. Her breaths were only left in faint pants as it gave her some time to cool herself down. When he saw her shoulder relax, Neji lowered his weapons however he didn't expect that he was going to regret it. Tenten took the opportunity to elbow his chest, making him flinch from the injury that he had gotten and drop the staffs he held. She twirled on the spot, picking up the collar of his shirt to stare at him dead in the eyes, as if she was expecting him to burst into flames. Neji stared back at her, trying to find some sort of emotion in her eyes. When he did, he had found the glassy orbs that he felt back in the dream the other morning.

"But why?" The brunette wondered softly, tightening her hold on him as she fought the tears threatening to spill. "If you hadn't made it… I would've been back where I started. I wouldn't have been hurt and you would've been gone forever!"

Neji remembered the night that they were staring at the stars, Tenten was furious with herself that she was the only one that wasn't hurt that night. If he hadn't made it… Neji knew that Tenten wouldn't have forgiven Naruto for easily leaving him like that

"I did it because…" If Neji had been nervous before, he definitely was nervous now. "I did it because… I love you Tenten." She held back a short gasp, and Neji found himself continuing. "It's because I love you that I will be selfish and wanted to protect you from anyone, even if I know that you can defend yourself."

Tenten let go of him, but her eyes still remained fixed on his ivory orbs. The silence welcomed them as they stared at each other, still trying to keep their breathing patterns in sync just as the anger subsided. "…You selfish jackass…" She panted, slowly lowering her chestnut orbs to his lips. "But… I love that selfish jackass as well."

Neji felt like time had stopped for that moment, in a moment of happiness. He hadn't been sure of Tenten's feelings, during the time they spent together he couldn't tell their feelings were mutual, not even the kiss they shared before the fight made Neji see her feelings for him. Tenten loved him!

This time, he was aware of his actions and held onto her shoulders tenderly, his ivory orbs softened as they focused on the duo pools of chestnut in front of him. They were still strong, projecting its inner strength that have been through so much. Carefully, he placed his lips on hers, trying to experience the pleasantry feeling tingling on his face. It only flooded throughout his entire body was she responded immediately. They pulled apart, unable to keep their eyes of each other. Neji was finally the first one to speak.

"Ten…" He swallowed nervously, feeling the palms of his hands slowly sweating. "Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

She only grinned ridiculously. "What do you think jackass?" The brunette pulled him into another heated kiss. As they embraced with passionate romance, neither of them were aware that Hinata was smiling through the cracks of the door.

_**A/n: Cheesy, lame, and slightly retarded way of hooking Nejiten up. Okay it's not my fault, out of my whole life I've only been asked out by four other boys... the first I can't remember, the second gave me a lollypop and asked me to go out with him, the third just asked like our dear Neji did in this chapter and the fourth asked me if he could come shopping with me. The sad thing is... I don't like shopping, unless its for drawing stuff... but anyways, I don't have many options to choose from with Neji asking Tenten to be his girlfriend. I enjoyed writing the last scene for some weird reason... I dunno maybe because Hinata was being evil and pushed him in XD**_

_**So stayed tuned for the final chapter... so I can start preparing for my... Sequel but you guys already saw that coming... actually this is only the first part of the trilogy I have planned out**_

_**But seriously. I can't believe you Kishimoto... Grr... You better redeem yourself Kishimoto because a lot of Naruto fans are/ will be pissed off at your silly story writing skills... **_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/n: Thank you to those who took their time to read, review, follow or favour this story. Wow its finally the end of my first Nejiten eh? Wow... it makes me feel like I can accomplish anything! Haha! Okay guys I hope you feeling better from the manga chapter incident from the the other day because I'm not... Also just as I finished this chapter and posted it on the laptop it played this gme called 'piss Agua off by completely screwing up and lose access to any files that was on the laptop.' ... yep this isn't my month**__**Warning: There will be a bit of swearing in some chaps and gory violence if you have an insane imagination – there might be slight OOC with characters, I try not to get them too OOC so don't expect Neji to walk away in a tutu (That's what Naruto SD is for)… hehe… the images**_

_**There might be errors, trust me: most of them are unintentional**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I own this plot– that is all**_

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**_Living Dead of the Night_**

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**Epilogue**

_*Seven months later*_

In the town of Konoha, many monsters lurked in every corner because their portal was common on the tall monuments above them, watching over their little town like hawks. They chose to hunt mostly at night, because the human victims were never expecting to get claimed by a particular monster.

Again, this had happened to a lone woman who had foolishly left a party late and walk towards the dark streets in a clumsy manner. She found herself laughing and tripping over her feet, stumbling towards the back end of a building, unaware that a figure was standing behind her. The woman whirled her head behind her, checking her surroundings as she fished for her keys from her purse but heard and saw nothing. Shrugging to herself, the woman finally took out the keys at the same time the figure pulled themselves into sight and trapped her to the wall.

The woman acknowledged her attacker; her whimpers escaped her throat in horror as the vampire exposed its fangs out to her. This slowly turned into a frown, and the vampire stopped snarling, taking this opportunity to stare at its own chest. A stake had been planted right in the heart, coming from the assaulted woman.

"Don't underestimate the humans you attack." She whispered softly, bright eyes illuminated the night.

"You… you're a Hyuga." The vampire choked, as it collapsed to its knees.

"Not just any Hyuga, I am Hinata." She reminded it, just as the vampire dissolved into dust. Hinata took a look around her, before she let out a sigh. "Naruto-kun… I did it."

"I saw it! Good job Hinata!" The blonde haired boy entered in her view. Naruto flashed the Hyuga girl a wide grin, which made her blush shyly. "You are definitely getting better at fighting… just like me!"

"Thank you… Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered shyly. He simply widened his grin and went to turn around when she decided to speak up again. "For everything."

Naruto furrowed his brow and stared at the girl with concern, his golden brows furrowed into a firm line. "For what?"

Hinata's cheeks flamed brightly when she felt his undivided attention all focused on her. "Back when we were in the realm – you were there for five months, but you tried to protect me from Zaku, and Kidomaru…" Her moonlit orbs gazed away from his azure eyes.

The blonde haired man smiled warmly, and lifted her chin to meet his face, oblivious to her pale skin slowly turning into a cherry. "I'll do whatever I can for the people I care about-" He stopped mid-speech when he felt the temperature on Hinata's face. "Are you getting a fever… Hinata?"

"Nar-Naruto-kun…" His hand brushed her forehead, and that was when Hinata fell to the ground out cold, with a smile plastered on her lips.

"EH?! Hinata?! Hinata, wake up!" He picked her up from her shoulders and observed her unconscious frame. Naruto quickly lifted her up in his arms and furrowed his brow together. "Alright… To Neji's house!" The blonde haired man rushed to the closest safe house to him so he could help Hinata.

-:-

"Again." Neji muttered coldly, folding his arms as Tenten started to pant in exhaustion. He acted like he was fine, but he had been dead tired as well. It would put a dent into his pride if he showed it to her. Ever since joining Konoha as a citizen, he has been learning more tricks from Kakashi. When the lazy hunter wouldn't be around to train him, he would go to Tenten and spar with her, showing her little mercy despite their relationship.

It was no secret of their new status, when they went to go meet their new comrades, Naruto had whooped loudly which earned a whack across his head from his new rival and Neji's old classmate Uchiha Sasuke. The blonde back then simply chuckled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Shikamaru only shook his head with a smirk while Ino had crushed the life out of Tenten, saying that she was happy for the brunette that she had found true love.

When Neji found out about Yagana and her sacrifice, he noticed Tenten filling herself up with grief that her friend was no longer with her. Ino and Shikamaru had both gave a concerned bit of advice to her about moving on, promising her that Yagana was happy wherever she was, and very proud of the group for their achievements.

"You are a machine!" Tenten exaggerated with an exhausted expression, as she attempted to strike Neji. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist, twisting her entire arm into an uncomfortable position. She let out a whimper, but her chestnut orbs remained fierce, like always. "Okay! You win, now can we eat? I haven't eaten since breakfast!"

"I have not eaten since last night." Neji retorted with a raised eyebrow, in cue his stomach let out a tiny rumble. "There is no use complaining about it. Now get out of the grip." He taunted, as he pinned her to the wall.

Tenten growled out in response, the hunger obviously made her livider which resulted her into elbowing into his ribs, making Neji jerk at the contact. He released her and took a step back involuntarily, unable to prepare enough time for a jump kick in the face. In that instant, Neji flew off his feet and landed roughly on the ground, groaning as he collided onto the floor. His hand reached up his face, wincing when he felt the bruise from the impact. For a girl, she could kick!

"Shoot!" The brunette rushed to Neji's side, glancing at his face with concerned eyes. "Sorry Neji-!" She was suddenly cut off when Neji grabbed onto her arms and pinned her to the floor with a smirk.

"I win. Never let your guard down." Neji warned with a devilish grin, his silver orbs observed every aspect of her face. He could see that chestnut eyes leered back at him, and lightly tanned skin glistened with sweat. "Alright, training's over." He decided, leaning forward to press his lips against Tenten's. She let her eyes close and returned the kiss, unable to fight the shades of red that lightened on her face.

"Oh my-!"

The duo pulled away and Neji jumped back to glare at Naruto who was holding an unconscious Hinata. "Why is Hinata like that Naruto? I thought you were going to keep an eye on her!" After a month of her rescue, Hinata find it no need for Neji to call her 'Hinata-sama' because she wasn't going to lead any clan. He felt slightly grateful that the shy Hyuga acknowledged his voice for a while.

"It had nothing to do with that! I swear!" Naruto complained, still frantically holding her. "In fact she did great, but all I did was touch her and she fainted!"

At that moment, Neji felt himself relaxed that Hinata wasn't hurt. He as well as Tenten could see the obvious crush that Hinata had on the blonde. Though Neji simply wished that it was someone who wasn't so… slow on things.

"Relax Naruto, she just fainted – you know it isn't too good for her heart for you to be touching her face." Tenten scolded, pushing herself onto her feet to observe Hinata with a faint smile, before nodding off. "Now go put her on her bed, and I'll make dinner now for tonight." Naruto meekly nodded as he rushed out of the room, leaving the two alone again.

Neji furrowed his brow in confusion as he stood up as well. "Tonight? You never make dinner unless we invited people."

"And they call you the genius." The brunette chuckled, leaning closer to her partner as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Remember that we invited them a week ago?"

Then it hit him. Neji briefly recalled asking Shikamaru and Ino to dinner, and they decided to bring in Sasuke because he was their friend who invited Sakura who was too eager to come along, Hinata and Naruto were already considered to be there. He sighed in exhaustion and leaned his forehead against Tenten's staring at her eyes softly. "We could always cancel, saying you got the flu…" His voice turned husky at the offer, which made Tenten only giggle shyly.

"You know I won't let that happen." Tenten retorted with a smirk, kissing his cheek to escape out of his arms. "I'm going for a shower because its gross being sweaty, then I'll start cooking." She untied her buns, letting the chocolate hair fall into wavy, thick locks as she strolled out of the room.

Neji agreed silently, smirking mischievously as she left and thought of how much his life has changed. He now lived in an actual house with Hinata, Tenten and Naruto all joining in on the rent. Since Naruto lived in the house, Tenten warned Neji that he had to stock up on ramen now, considering that Naruto ate his ramen like no tomorrow. It actually crept him out.

During the seven months, Neji had learned that Sasuke was part demon and that he wanted nothing more than to see, his brother Uchiha Itachi dead. It didn't surprise Neji that Itachi was Sasuke's older brother; he saw some resemblance between the brothers. Neji didn't know much about the brothers, but it had nothing to do with him, so he let it slide.

Usually, Neji wouldn't like Hinata seeing other boys but for keeping Tenten and Hinata safe those seven months ago, he knew he could trust Naruto to not let anything happen to the shy Hyuga. He reached up and pulled the bandana off his head, which revealed the green marking on his forehead. Neji's ivory orbs hardened at the reflection through the window, it sickened him to see it but it was there – stuck on him until he found out the cure and Hinata promised that she would help in any way that she could.

But the most grateful thing that had happened to him was getting that call and asking on the mobile 'is that all?'

-:-

"Ino-pig! I know you stole my new top!"

"There's no way forehead! After all… it would've been too small for my top, if you know what I mean."

Shikamaru shivered. That was a low blow, even for Ino.

"What was that Ino-pig!?"

"Troublesome." The Nara muttered while the girls continued on their debates, and flinched when his phone rang out as it alerted him for a message. His eyes skimmed through the message from his mother.

_Hey Shikamaru, I hope you are doing well – I heard you found Asuma's murderer! Good on you, well I got to get going, tell me how your life has been!_

Shikamaru silently smirked at his mother's words. Of course the woman drove him through the roof, but she was meant to… it was his mother.

_Yeah, I'm doing alright, yes I had put a bullet into the demon that had killed Asuma – I moved to Konoha with Ino, and we've made some friends. Call me when you get the chance._

During the seven months, his mother managed to get a job overseas, which secretly made Shikamaru glad because she wouldn't be exposed as a hunter's mother. It was dangerous enough that Ino was hunting with him. They talk to each other frequently and his mother's latest complaints about lacking on grandchildren. On that particular day, the phone was on speaker, and Ino happened to be drinking coffee right at the time she mentioned it. Let's just say the lazy genius was in the sudden splash zone of coffee.

"Listen Ino-pig, if you don't give me my hair brush in the next three seconds-!"

A doorbell suddenly went off, making the girls fall silent. Shikamaru figured it might've been Sasuke. Soon enough the women were arguing on who should answer the door and why, while Shikamaru went to answer the door.

"Shikamaru." The raven haired male greeted coolly, his messy black hair was in shape of a chicken's/duck's butt. His eyebrow raised in curiosity when he heard a crash from another room, and more screaming. "Sakura and Ino are at it again?"

"Do you need to ask?" Shikamaru questioned back, letting Sasuke enter the house. He studied the walls with the paintings of flowers before shoving his hands in his pockets. "The girls should be ready soon… just-"

Once again, Shikamaru was cut off with a sudden roar of fury from Ino. "You stole my bra!" Both of the girls stumbled towards them, Sakura was on Ino's back, yanking the bra strap while Ino was trying to push Sakura off. They stared at the men for a few moments before dropping to the ground and acting as if nothing happened.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura blinked quietly, she wore an emerald green cocktail dress with flats, her short pink hair neatly pinned back. Ino on the other hand wore a lavender cocktail dress with silver high heels and her blonde hair was pulled back into a bun.

"You girls look lovely." Shikamaru noted, slightly smiling at Ino who grinned widely. He shot Sasuke a look, telling him to play along. If they didn't compliment the women in front of them, then they were in for a bit of hell.

"I don't understand why you girls fight so much of how pretty you are. You are both beautiful." Sasuke continued, lifting his arm for Sakura to collect it. Both of the women giggled to themselves, and got comfortable next to their partners.

"We should get going to Neji's then." Ino decided, her grin widened when Shikamaru gently pecked her cheek.

Sakura nodded with agreement. "Let's go, Sasuke-kun."

The two couples exited the house and locked the door behind them, just as Shikamaru looked up into the sky. He disliked the night for many reasons; many monsters came out at night and his most important reason – the clouds were harder to spot. The Nara however, smiled stiffly at the thought of his godfather, who was smiling down on him.

He took his stare of the sky and paid attention to what was going on in front of him, he knew that they were in for a lot more from the Akatsuki and the pure demons.

_-_:-

In the shadows of Neji's former apartment, two dark figures rose from the darkness. Their cloaks hid their bodies as they searched throughout the room, sniffing or observing each item in particular.

"I'm sure they moved on now." The taller figure spoke, his face was still hidden in the darkness. "They probably won't be coming here at all." He opened the cupboard, expecting a few weapons inside but met up with a nearly empty storage. "Even took the good weapons with them."

The silent figure glanced back at the tall figure, his crimson orbs narrowed sharply before finding the photo frame. He picked the object up with cold slender fingers, to raise them in the air again as he studied the image. "He left the picture here."

"Now why would he forget the picture?"

"He didn't forget the picture Kisame." The red eyed man insisted as he placed it back on the nightstand. "Neji only wanted to forget his previous life, so he left it behind."

"What about the girl? I would've thought that she went her own way." Kisame retorted with a snarl, as he picked up some old clothing. "But no, she goes to Konoha with Neji." He found a sharp blade on the table and observed its shape with curious eyes. "How the Hyuga bastard found out the demon realm surprises me. I'm just surprised that they weren't being careful with the location because it could've been a trap for all they know."

The man silently stared out the window for a few moments before turning to his partner "Considering that was where we found him, it didn't surprise me that he was so sure about it."

"Well I guess it isn't all bad… Hidan's probably buried underneath crap, cursing out on top of his lungs so we won't be hearing from that maniac again." When Kisame's rant didn't get a response, he merely gazed over to the red eyed man who was facing out of the window again with a frown. "Itachi-san?"

The elder Uchiha's head tilted back to observe Kisame, before turning back. "Our next stop is Konoha."

_**A/n: I bet you guys hate me right now for the cliffhanger. I'm sorry! It was my hands fault, they just wrote whatever seemed right! *Cries in the corner* But I really hope you guys enjoyed that chapter because the sequel won't come till... I have no idea but it will come! **_

_**Ciao, ciao!**_


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